TikTok HQ staff hit by mass food poisoning incident

Singapore officials are investigating the incident that left dozens of people with severe stomach problems

Dozens of staff at the Singapore office of TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, have been hospitalised in an apparent food poisoning outbreak.

Health and food safety officials in the city state are investigating the incident, which left 60 people with symptoms of gastroenteritis on Tuesday. Fifty-seven of them were treated in hospital.

ByteDance has also said it is looking into what caused its employees to fall ill.

The BBC understands that no food is prepared or cooked at the ByteDance offices and that it uses third party caterers to supply food.

Seventeen ambulances were sent to the building in Singapore's business district to treat those who had fallen ill, according to local media reports.

"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 had its first major success with short video app Douyin in China. A year later, it launched TikTok, an international version of Douyin.

TikTok, which is not available in China, has more than a billion active users around the world.

It is now run by a limited liability company based in Singapore and Los Angeles but is essentially owned by ByteDance.