“EVERY SINGLE FLOOR HAD PEOPLE VOMITTING”
ByteDance employees who spoke to CNA said people started feeling ill from about 3pm. They recounted seeing vomit on the floor and colleagues wincing in pain.
As more employees began falling ill, messages appeared on a company group chat seen by CNA asking if people were suffering from symptoms like diarrhoea or vomiting, while others requested that toilets and pantry sinks that were choked with vomit be cleaned.
Andre (not his real name) ate at the canteen on the 26th floor on Tuesday, but did not fall ill. Putien and Yun Nans operate one buffet line each in the canteen, and he said only people who ate at one of the buffet lines had food poisoning, although it was unclear which caterer operated this buffet line.
“Every single floor had people vomiting, which was quite gross,” Andre said.
On the floor he works on, vomit was seen on the floor outside the entrance of the toilets. The situation was worse on other floors, he said.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received multiple calls for medical assistance at 3.15pm, and deployed 17 ambulances.
Andre said SCDF cordoned off an area on the first floor of the building. About 10 people were inside the cordon, lying on the floor wincing in pain while waiting to be attended to by paramedics.
Later that night, the company emailed a form to employees to report if they were ill, what their symptoms were and whether they had any allergies, he said.
A 28-year-old employee who declined to be named told CNA on Tuesday evening that their colleagues started to feel nauseous about an hour after having lunch.
“Mostly vomiting and diarrhoea. The toilets were all full and there were people lying on the floor. The whole office smelled like vomit.”
They added that the scene was “quite chaotic” as people vomited on the floor and in the pantry, with cleaners “rushing around the office cleaning up the mess”.
“Two of my teammates went to the hospital via SCDF, while four went to the clinic. They didn’t want to go to the hospital.”
Those who sought treatment from clinics themselves were given three days of sick leave, the employee said.
Employees confirmed that the canteen on the 26th floor was closed on Wednesday. Both caterers were engaged about two months ago, and offer standard Chinese fare from their restaurants, they told CNA.
The canteen on the 26th floor is popular and sees long queues every day, ByteDance employees said.
Peter (not his real name) said the food served in the buffet lines is “generally even better” than those at the other canteens or buffets outside.
While he did not eat there on Tuesday, other colleagues mentioned that the affected buffet line served chicken, prawns, gizzard and vegetables.
The food is usually fresh and warm, he said. “It’s really next to the kitchen. They (heat it up) and then they put it directly on the pots and it finishes quite fast because of the long queue.”