An old photo of a staff’s unsanitary practice while manning a donut kiosk once again sparked food safety concerns.
An online user on the X (formerly Twitter) platform on July 12 posted a picture of a Mister Donut staff sitting behind a chest of drawers with bare feet.
Her feet are placed on the edge of an opened drawer, which has a tray inside. A closer look reveals what appears to be some donuts inside.
X User @DovieSelena posted the picture and a close-up version of the opened drawer below the staff.
“Kalowka bwhawhhwhwhwhwhwhw,” the user wrote.
Kalowka bwhawhhwhwhwhwhwhwj pic.twitter.com/e2D53OA3R5
— Dovie Selena (@DovieSelena) July 12, 2024
The post has earned 426,500 views, 4,300 likes, over 540 reposts and 121 replies so far, with some expressing food safety and sanitary concerns about the image.
“Sana required man lang mag-socks? Food po pinaguusapan,
@MisterDonut_PH,” an online user commented, tagging the account of the donut shop.
“@MisterDonut_PH, does this pass your sanitation standards?” another Pinoy asked.
“Dugyot talaga ng MD. Nakita ko din dati [‘yung] nagtitinda, kinakamay niya tapos luma na. Kaya never nako bumili [sa kanila] ever,” wrote a different user.
Another X user claimed the kiosk was located in their area.
“This is located sa city ko [and] after nag-trend [siya] pre-pandemic ay natanggal na ‘yung stall na ‘yan. Pero ayun, kadiri nga, hahaha,” the user commented.
The photo started circulating on social media in 2018.
Mister Donut also released a statement before, saying its management was “already doing an investigation” and was “coordinating with the concerned individual.”
“At Mister Donut, quality and safety of our products is our top priority. Any deviation from our standard processes and quality measures will be dealt with utmost importance,” it said in a statement posted on Facebook in June 2018.
“Rest assured that we are doing everything we can to ensure that this incident will not happen again in any of our stores,” the donut shop added.
In the comments section, Mister Donut also responded to a Facebook user before by saying that the incident was an “isolated case.”
In another comment, the donut shop said it had ordered the particular shop to “cease their operation” following the incident.
“Following the incident showing the mishandling of our products, we would like to inform our patrons, followers and the general public that the management of Mister Donut has ordered the concerned shop to cease their operation since yesterday,” it said on June 10, 2018.
“This is our commitment to food safety and we would like to assure the public that we will thoroughly address the concern before re-opening the concerned shop,” Mister Donut added.
In another comment, the donut shop said it was “very strict with quality and food safety,” emphasizing that the viral incident was an “isolated case.”
The Food Safety Act of 2013 or Republic Act 10611 states that food business operators shall ensure that “food satisfies the requirements of food law relevant to their activities in the food supply chain and that control systems are in place to prevent, eliminate, or reduce risks to consumers.”
If an “unsafe” food product has reached the consumer, the operator “shall effectively and accurately inform the consumers of the reason for the withdrawal, and if necessary, recall the same from the market.”
