Dozens of staff at the Singapore office of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, have been hospitalized due to an apparent food poisoning outbreak.
Health and food safety officials in Singapore are investigating the incident, which left 60 people with symptoms of gastroenteritis on Tuesday. Fifty-seven of them were treated in the hospital.
ByteDance has stated that it is investigating the cause of the illness among its employees.
The BBC understands that no food is prepared or cooked at the ByteDance offices; instead, the company uses third-party caterers to supply food.
According to local media reports, seventeen ambulances were dispatched to the building in Singapore’s business district to treat those who had fallen ill.
“We take the health and safety of our employees very seriously and have taken immediate steps to support all affected employees, including working with emergency services to provide care,” a ByteDance spokesperson told the BBC.
“We are investigating the matter and are working with the relevant authorities on this.”
“Food operators must play their part by adhering to good food safety practices” said the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) in a joint statement with the city-state’s Ministry of Health.
“SFA will not hesitate to take enforcement action against errant food operators,” the statement added.
Founded in 2012 by Chinese entrepreneurs, ByteDance first achieved major success with the short video app Douyin in China. A year later, it launched TikTok, the international version of Douyin.
TikTok, which is not available in China, has more than a billion active users worldwide.
It is currently operated by a limited liability company based in Singapore and Los Angeles but is essentially owned by ByteDance.