This is the skin-crawling moment when a Starbucks customer films cockroaches walking over food on the counter under the noses of staff.

The bugs can be seen crawling all over the cheese and ham croissants while customers wait to pay at the branch at a shopping centre in Mexico.

As staff apparently do nothing to tackle the bugs, they scuttle all over the ‘freshly baked’ breakfast snacks in La Piedad, Queretaro state, in the TikTok footage.

Some Starbucks fans tried to play down the infestation, saying the food was for display and not customer consumption.

Bur one angry TikTok user @victoriazavaleta23 said: “There should not be cockroaches anywhere in the business. Yes, that’s how it is outside… How will it be in the main kitchen?”.

Others laughed that Starbucks could charge more for providing extra protein.

Starbucks later said it had brought in bug exterminators to treat the branch,

They claimed that no evidence of bugs had been found on the premises but said that fumigation had occurred on the premises anyway.

Starbucks also emphasized that the store had no prior history of pest issues and reassured its customers in Mexico that its suppliers adhere to global safety and quality standards.

The video has garnered approximately 1,500 comments in less than 72 hours, with many pointing out that Starbucks was not alone, with hygiene in cafes, restaurants and other similar places under fire.

Starbucks Corporation, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, operates as the world’s largest coffeehouse chain, boasting 35,711 stores across 80 countries as of November 2022.