Bug problem at IKEA! Customer finds insect in chocolate cake at Hyderabad store

Forget competitors, the biggest challenge IKEA has faced so far in India are pests. The Swedish home furnishing giant is facing bad press once again after a customer found an insect inside a chocolate cake while his daughter was eating it. This happens to be second such incident at IKEA's Hyderabad store in the span of a month.

While reports suggest that the store was reportedly fined Rs 5,000 for the lacunae in hygiene, IKEA has denied reports of it being penalised. The Swedish company, however, did express 'regret' over the incident.

"In the IKEA Hyderabad restaurant when a customer was eating a chocolate cake which he bought, a fly was seen on the cake which eventually flew away. We regret this and apologize to our customer for the unfortunate experience. We are taking steps to avoid such occurrences. However, no samples were collected or inspection carried out by GHMC on the said incident. Further, IKEA has not been issued any notice or fined by the corporation," an IKEA spokesperson told India Today.

After the incident on September 12, the customer was quick to tweet the images of the cake with the insect perched on it. He even made a point to tag State Cabinet Minister KT Rama Rao, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and Hyderabad Police in the tweet. He followed it with a video which showed the insect crawling all over the cake, in response to IKEA's claim that the insect 'flew away'.

Earlier, IKEA India had voluntarily stopping sales of its popular vegetarian biryani and samosas, after a caterpillar was found in its vegetable biryani earlier this month. The municipal corporation had imposed a fine Rs 11,500 fine on IKEA. The episode had not only proved to be a major embarrassment for the Swedish furniture giant but also brought it under the scanner of the municipal authorities, who inspected the restaurant and collected food samples for bacteriological analysis.