Cancer survivor in S'pore sees Chocolate Origin staff microwave dessert in plastic cup, chain offers cake as apology

[Insouciant]

Cancer survivor in S'pore sees Chocolate Origin staff microwave dessert in plastic cup, chain offers cake as apology​

The customer said she felt “very disappointed” by the incident.


Nadya Pang
Nurshahiylia Sidin

April 14, 2026, 11:59 AM​

mothership.sg

A cancer survivor in Singapore said she was alarmed after watching a Chocolate Origin staff put her lava cake dessert contained in a non-microwavable plastic cup into the microwave.

The incident occurred at the chain's Marina One outlet on Apr. 1 at about 1:25pm.

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The customer, who asked to remain anonymous, told Mothership that she purchased a S$7 Cuppa Lava Cake with ice cream from the outlet.

She said she saw the sales staff place a plastic cup containing both the ice cream and lava cave into the microwave to heat it up before serving it.

No sign that cup was microwave-safe​

The customer said: "When she took [it] out, I asked her if the plastic cup is microwavable. She mentioned yes."

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She then checked the cup in which the dessert was presented, but did not find a microwaveable sign.

To confirm her suspicions, she called another outlet to check if the cup was indeed microwavable.

According to the other outlet, it was not.

She added that she felt “very disappointed” by the incident.

Response fell short of standards​

In response to a query from Mothership, Chocolate Origin apologised for the incident and said it had conducted a “thorough internal review”.

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The company said there had been “no intention to mislead”, but acknowledged that the response given to the customer at the outlet “was not appropriate and fell short of the standards we expect and uphold across our operations”.

Chocolate Origin added that it has since implemented enhanced staff training across its outlets to ensure adherence to operational procedures.

The company said: “As both the brand owner and franchisor, we regard this matter with the utmost seriousness.”

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It added that it remains committed to preventing a recurrence of such incidents.

Complimentary cake offered​

The customer told Stomp that the chain later reached out to apologise and offered her a complimentary slice of cake.

However, she said she remained dissatisfied with how the matter has been handled.

The National Cancer Centre Singapore states that plastic containers not labelled microwave-safe should not be used in microwaves, as they may melt and leak chemicals into food.

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The Singapore Food Agency also advises consumers to use only containers labelled microwave-safe for microwave cooking or reheating, and notes that cold-storage containers, such as ice cream tubs are not designed for heating.

Top images courtesy of customer, Google maps