International chain of convenience stores, 7-Eleven, issued an apology to its customers on 6 January after a photo of a rat nibbling on food kept in a food warmer at its outlet at Kelana Centre Point in Malaysia's Selangor state went viral.
"7-Eleven Malaysia takes note of the pest incident which occurred at 7-Eleven Kelana Centre Point on 2nd January 2017 and we would like to sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers," said the franchise, in a statement posted on their Facebook page.
"We have immediately conducted our own internal investigations as well as cooperated with the Health Ministry office for the district of Petaling on the matter and please be assured, this is an isolated incident as we have certified quality assurance audits and regular pest control steps in place to prevent such occurrences," it added.
The Ministry of Health also said that it carried out a thorough investigation. It said in a statement that officials found that the glass display cabinet (in the picture) was fully covered and the inspection of the premise that was carried out following the incident did not show any rat infestation.
However, the ministry did not clarify how the huge rodent got inside the casket and if any action was taken against the particular 7-Eleven store.
Initially, the image was posted on Facebook with the caption; "Spot a rat enjoying hotdog at 7-Eleven Kelana Centre Point. Please be careful when buying ready made food in any convenience stores!!!" After the initial investigation, it was concluded that the incident happened on 2 January.
7-Eleven stores, which are there in 18 countries across the world, are quite eventful. On 7 January, ABC news reported that a woman attacked two customers in a 7-Eleven store in Sydney Australia. Also, a man is seen robbing a store belonging to the franchise in Los Angeles, USA using his hand as a pretend gun on Saturday.
