However, it took just one day to lose most of the customers, at least temporarily, after the Singapore Food Agency that it was ordering the suspension of operations for the 64-year-old homegrown brand for containing high levels of the food preservative sorbic acid.
Mr Ang said while he has yet to work out the financial impact of SFA’s decision, it is"definitely not going to be small". However, he admited that it had used sorbic acid as a food preservative months ago. None of the products used benzoic acid.A food scientist told TODAY on Wednesday that they are relatively safe when consumed in low quantities, though some studies have shown that under certain conditions, these compounds may get mutated to something potentially harmful.
But Mr Ang said that when a separate team from the SFA did a random sampling of the company’s products in April and found the presence of the sorbic acid, he was told that the additive should not be present despite what SFA’s email said.He said that at no point during the interaction with SFA in April was the company told to cease operation, and were informed only to stop using the additive.
When asked how he intends bring the company forward after this incident, Mr Ang said he plans to thank “loyal customers” for their support by offering promotions on their products.that it detected high amounts of benzoic or sorbic acid in the products of nine kueh manufacturers, including Tiong Bahru Tian Bo Shui Kueh.
It added that they had even sent their products to a laboratory on Tuesday, after being notified of the supposed breach of regulations, to test for the presence of the additives. It received a negative result on Wednesday.