Cockroach Spotted At IKEA Cheras Bistro Ice Cream Machine, Less Than Two Weeks After Swedish Restaurant Reopened
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A customer at IKEA Cheras spotted a cockroach near the ice cream machine at the store’s ground-floor Bistro on Saturday (4 July), prompting a viral social media post and a response from IKEA Malaysia.
Threads user 044mii, who tagged the location as IKEA Cheras, posted photographs of the pest alongside the ice cream machine.
The post has since drawn 275,000 views, 172 comments and 837 shares.
“Nak amik aiskrim tadi terkejut ada lipas! Bukan ke baru lepas kena tutup dengan KKM ke?” she wrote — roughly translated: “Wanted to get ice cream and was shocked to find a cockroach. Wasn’t this place just shut down by the Health Ministry?”
View on Threads
IKEA: Area Being Cleaned, Bistro Remains Open
IKEA Malaysia said it became aware of the video the same day and immediately inspected the affected area, including all ice cream machines at the store.
In a statement, the company said the affected area is currently undergoing thorough cleaning while pest control treatment and inspection are being carried out.
“Food safety, hygiene and quality remain extremely important to us,” the statement read.
As part of our ongoing food safety and hygiene practices, pest control treatment and inspections are conducted weekly across our food operations.
IKEA confirmed the Bistro remains open.
It added that the Swedish Restaurant and all other IKEA dining outlets nationwide are unaffected by this incident.
Background: The June Closure
The public reaction to the latest sighting was shaped in part by a separate incident at the same store last month.
On 17 June, the Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya Health Department issued a closure order against the Swedish Restaurant at IKEA Cheras — an upstairs dining area distinct from the Bistro — under Section 11 of the Food Act 1983.
The premises were cited as tidak bersih, meaning not clean and sanitised to a standard safe for public consumption.
According to IKEA Malaysia’s Country Retail Director Malcolm Pruys, inspectors found evidence of cockroaches in a drain beneath the kitchen floor, an uncovered freezer, a missing no-smoking sign in the kitchen, and one staff member — a new hire — who had not yet completed food safety certification.
No contaminated food was found, and no issues were flagged with the customer dining area; though the closure order mandated a 14-day shutdown, IKEA closed the restaurant at 1 PM that day — hours before the legal deadline — and was cleared to reopen on 22 June after replacing all kitchen plumbing, intensifying pest control, and certifying the untrained staff member.
Authorities were satisfied with the remediation and issued clearance.
Pruys, in an interview with TRP published on Friday (3 July), said the store undergoes three independent, unannounced food safety audits annually and has not failed a single one since opening.
Two Separate Sections, One Building
IKEA Cheras management had previously clarified that the June closure order applied only to the upstairs Swedish Restaurant.
The ground-floor Bistro — where Friday’s cockroach was photographed — was open throughout the closure period and was not subject to the order.
The two incidents are separate in regulatory terms; IKEA Malaysia has not indicated any connection between them.
Meanwhile, responses on social media ranged from concern to calls for regulatory action.
Several users tagged the Ministry of Health Malaysia and its Food Safety & Quality Division (BKKM) directly, while one commenter, identifying herself as a food handler trainer, noted that pest sightings in food premises are a reportable matter under Malaysian food safety regulations and directed users to file complaints via the Sispaa@kkm portal.
F&B workers who commented noted that cockroaches are difficult to fully eradicate once established, particularly in high-volume food operations, and that regular pest control does not always guarantee complete elimination.
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Cockroach Spotted At IKEA Cheras Bistro Ice Cream Machine, Less Than Two Weeks After Swedish Restaurant Reopened
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