(Image source from: NDTV.com)

The Swedish giant IKEA is in the dock again after a customer complained of contaminated food being served at their Hyderabad store on Wednesday.

IKEA has found a new pest. This time a pesky fly seems to have sat on a customer's chocolate cake.

The Swedish giant was slapped with a fine of Rs 5,000 after a Hyderabad man tweeted that he found "an insect" inside the cake while his daughter was eating it.

#Ikeahyderbad  I found an insect inside the chocolate cake which came out while my daughter was eating the cake at IKEA store today in Hyderabad. https://t.co/zrQnMX8rOI @TV9Telugu @KTRTRS sir @hydcitypolice @THHyderabad @Abnandhrajyothi pic.twitter.com/9rtQduiiV7 pic.twitter.com/UOqSB72ETs

— Kishore2018 (@Kishore20181) September 12, 2018

look at the right side of the cake its moving and its not a flying insect as was suggested by IKEA manager! pic.twitter.com/fLR1u1VgM1

— Kishore2018 (@Kishore20181) September 17, 2018

#Ikeahyderbad Today I found caterpillar in my veg biryani. Very unfair of food @TV9Telugu @KTRTRS sir @hydcitypolice @THHyderabad @Abnandhrajyothi pic.twitter.com/jumiED25fs

— Abeed Mohammad (@abeedmohammed9) August 31, 2018

In response, GHMC's (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) additional commissioner Musharraf Faruqui, told the Deccan Chronicle, "A team was sent to IKEA to collect samples from the same chocolate pastries in the store and based on the evidence from the video and pictures released the management was charged Rs 5,000 as a penalty. Results of the samples taken from IKEA will be available by the end of this week."

Initially, the IKEA officials told the media that they would not like to comment at the time as they had no information on the incident.

On Thursday evening, IKEA spokesperson said in a statement that they regretted and apologize for the unfortunate incident.

"In our Hyderabad restaurant when a customer was eating a chocolate cake which he bought, a fly was seen on the cake which eventually 'flew away'. We regret this and apologize to our customer for the unfortunate experience. We are taking steps to avoid such occurrences," the statement read.

While many on Twitter condemned the incident, a few also say that it could be an attempt to tarnish the image of the IKEA store in India.

Earlier this month, a caterpillar was found in the biryani that was served in the store. After a complaint was registered with the GHMC food safety officer, a penalization of Rs 11,500 was charged against the store through the GHMC Hotel App.

The restaurant manager was as well issued a notice and was also sent to Haldirams, the vegetable biryani seller at Nagpur, from where the eating house procures its food. The leftover consignment of the biryani in question was quarantined by IKEA.

The IKEA eating place can seat more than a 1,000 people and has been billed as their largest in the world.

By Sowmya Sangam