Shakey’s issues statement in response to Julius Babao’s “plastic in pizza” incident
Julius Babao's pizzagate
Pizza chain Shakey’s Philippines has apologized to broadcast journalist Julius Babao after he posted about finding plastic film in a pizza he had ordered via delivery from one of its outlets.
In the statement, Shakey’s acknowledged the mistake and thanked Babao for calling its attention to the oversight that had occurred in his delivery order. The pizza chain explained that the plastic film was a food-grade glassine sheet that is used to separate pizza crusts and prevents them from sticking when stacked. It appears that one of Shakey’s team members had forgotten to remove the film prior to adding cheese and toppings. Shakey’s promised a fair and thorough investigation of the “isolated and unique” incident.
Shakey’s promptly reached out to Babao, who accepted a replacement of his delivery order as per standard procedure. The company also thanked Babao for his kind consideration toward the staff responsible for pizzagate.
On a August 8, Babao posted on his official Facebook account a video of the offending pizza, which had a clear plastic film “sandwiched” between the dough and the toppings. Although the plastic had apparently been baked with the pizza, it remained intact and was mercifully noticed by Babao before any one could take a bite. The other pizzas that had come with the same order were plastic-free. Babao had tagged the Department of Trade and Industry and Shakey’s in the post.
One could just imagine a probably famished Babao dying to dig in, only to be mortified when he found the plastic in his pizza. He must’ve felt so aggrieved that nothing, not a phone call or a simple letter of complaint to the store manager, could make it right except posting about the incident to his more than 480,000 followers on Facebook.
We would have done the same thing, wouldn’t we? Rant about being horrified by the plastic in our pizza on Facebook. But unless we have Mr. Babao’s social media clout, our righteous indignation would have fallen on deaf ears.
