Safe hygiene practices for cleaners, too

English: Hand hygiene at Connect 2007 Thoughtful provision of hand sanitiser at the 2007 Connect festival enabled people to clean their hands before buying and eating food. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Letter from Paul Antony Fernandez

I REFER to the recent debate about hygiene standards at hawker stalls.
It is indeed good to note that the National Environment Agency (NEA) will intensify its efforts in educating hawkers on the importance of safe hygiene practices.

May I also seek the assistance of NEA in ensuring that safe hygiene habits are also practised by another group of people handling food in public places: cleaning contractors.

Often, cleaning contracts are awarded to contractors with the lowest bids and there is a monopoly of such services regardless of their track record in adopting cleanliness. When you visit a hawker centre or an established food outlet, you often notice that the leftover food is not cleared immediately. The most common reason cited is a lack of manpower.

This problem can be overcome by paying the cleaners sustainable salaries, which in turn will entice others to join the workforce.

Another unsightly practice is that cleaners often use the same old dirty cloth to wipe tables, dipping them into the same bucket of dirty water over and over.
It doesn't stop there: These cleaners also have the habit of wiping food off the tables and on to the floor.

Perhaps NEA officers, during their enforcement rounds, should also observe the assigned cleaners and when a violation is detected, not just reprimand the cleaners but take action against their employers for failing to inculcate safe hygiene practices among their cleaners.

From TODAY, Voices – Friday, 24-April-2009

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‘Opt for Happy Toilets’

CLEANLINESS STANDARD


Letter from Emerson Hee
Project Executive, Restroom Association (Singapore)

ON APRIL 9, in response to the food poisoning incident at Geylang Serai, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan commented that the current cleanliness standard is unacceptable as compared to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) period in 2003 when the standard was very good. He quoted the example of the Toilet OK campaign launched during the Sars period when the toilets were “OK” but they are no longer so.

Our association concurs strongly with Mr Khaw’s comments especially on the deteriorating standard of public toilets. Riding on the heightened awareness of public hygiene during the Sars period, we launched the Happy Toilet Programme (HTP) in June 2003 to complement the Toilet OK campaign. After about five years, we conducted a survey last year and only 26 per cent of the survey respondents indicated that the toilets are “OK”.

Our survey also revealed that 84 per cent stated that dirty toilets are one of the reasons for not visiting the premises and 70 per cent opined that irresponsible users are the cause of dirty toilets. We will continue to conduct the survey every year to compare and study the data.

With the deteriorating standard of public toilets, we launched the LOO Campaign last year. For the past one year before the launch of the campaign, about 170 toilets had been certified Happy Toilets. Some locations of these Happy Toilets are hawker centres, petrol stations, restaurants, shopping centres, tourist attractions, factories and hospitals. After the launch of the campaign, about 120 toilets have been certified Happy Toilets — including three coffeeshops within walking distance in Woodlands — with about 50 more toilets to be assessed and awarded in the next two months. Locations of these toilets are hawker centres, petrol stations, coffeeshops and shopping centres.

In conjunction with the LOO Campaign, we revamped the HTP grading system to include satisfaction — satisfied toilet visitors — to ensure a pleasant experience for the toilet users.

Therefore, we wish to appeal to the public to support our HTP by opting to only visit Happy Toilets. Though cleanliness of public toilets remain a challenge, public awareness of personal hygiene has been heightened through this food poisoning incident with some demanding clean public toilets not only for themselves but also stallholders preparing the food. Therefore, we strongly urge the public to start practising good toilet etiquette from home to public places so as to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again in the future.


From TODAY, Voices – Thursday, 16-April-2009

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The big clean-up

English: Hand hygiene at Connect 2007 Thoughtful provision of hand sanitiser at the 2007 Connect festival enabled people to clean their hands before buying and eating food. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I SAY
Not just hygiene, mindsets need an overhaul, too

Liang Dingzi

IN LIGHT of the recent Geylang Serai food poisoning tragedy which has claimed two lives and made more than 150 people ill, I recalled how my colleagues used to joke about favouring one stall over another selling the same fare even though it received a lower grading from the National Environment Agency (NEA).

Somehow, the general consensus was that the food tasted better, and the attitude one of bold defiance against good sense. It is as if food being clean and being tasty are mutually exclusive. Therefore, few people really pay heed to the NEA grading — and hawkers know it.

As Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan noted, labelling would work only if consumers were guided by the hygiene ratings. While he urged stallholders to improve their hygiene levels, customers could play their part by not patronising dirty stalls.

It is regrettable that it has to take a tragedy to drive home a lesson as important as this. But it is never too late to learn. Even more disturbing is Mr Khaw’s rating of Singapore as being close to a “fail” grade on matters of hygiene, compared with the 2003 Sars outbreak. It shows how quickly lessons are forgotten.

Blame it on complacency. Our attitude must change. Errant operators must be made to pay the price, whether through hefty fines, suspension of licences or public shaming, or a combination of measures.

However, too often, ignorance may be the culprit. And all parties — regulator, operators and customers — have a role to play in raising service and hygiene standards in hawker centres here.

To assist the operators and their helpers, the NEA can ensure they are adequately trained in safe food handling practices by arranging the appropriate courses. We have successfully instituted customer service training to raise the service level even at hawker centres as part of the campaign to improve Singapore’s global hospitality rating. Similarly, we can do as well to improve food handling hygiene, especially when the Singapore Tourist Board is marketing Singapore as a gourmet paradise.

Operators and their helpers can present a more professional image. There is no excuse for table cleaners to look unkempt. Some hawker centres have introduced uniforms to enhance their image.

A common sight is uncovered or exposed overflowing garbage bins that invite flies and other insects, as well as birds and rats. This cannot be permitted.

Most stalls do not have the luxury of space. The design could be improved to allow for more storage and work space so that there is clearer segregation between raw materials and cooked food.

While the NEA has done a good job in upgrading many food centres, the basic design of some of them has public toilets — another area of concern mentioned by Mr Khaw — located too near the stalls. They should be tucked away and operators must not use them as a matter of expedience to wash their dishes.

Customers must respect the work the cleaners and operators do. They can also help by not messing up the tables where they eat. By removing used plates, bowls and cutlery to their respective receptacles for disposal, the flies and other scavengers are likely to stay away.

The writer is a management consultant and freelance contributor.

Email your views to voices@mediacorp.com.sg

From TODAY, Voices – Wednesday, 15-April-2009

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‘Quick update was timely’

Geylang Food poisoning

Ong Dai Lin and Teo Xuan Wei
dailin@mediacorp.com.sg

Fifty hawkers from four food centres polled yesterday by Today say they are more vigilant about hygiene.DON WONG

HOW do the authorities decide when to issue health advisories in food poisoning outbreaks?

On Saturday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) was notified of 12 new cases of food poisoning — with the affected individuals all having gone to the steamboat restaurant Ba Shu Ren Jia at Lorong 9 Geylang — and it immediately advised the public about the incident in its daily updates on the rojak food poisoning outbreak.

When the National Environment Agency (NEA) closed the Rojak Geylang Serai stall on April 4 and told its stallholder that about 100 people had fallen ill, though, only the two newspapers which sent in queries — The New Paper and Berita Minggu — carried information about the probe. The agencies replied to other media queries the next day.

Responding to queries from Today about the steamboat restaurant advisory, a MOH spokesman said that in view of the recent mass food poisoning cases, “it was timely for a quick update to emphasise the importance of personal and environmental hygiene”.

MOH and NEA had advised members of the public who have patronised the restaurant and are experiencing symptoms of food poisoning to seek immediate medical attention. Last night, the agencies also urged the public dining in steamboat restaurants to cook their food thoroughly before consumption.

Going into detail about its investigations into the earlier outbreak, MOH said it was alerted to the first cases of food poisoning by Changi General Hospital on Friday, April 3 at 10pm.

The ministry had to “investigate further and verify the facts before making any public announcements”. Investigations were “conducted immediately at the hospital in the early hours of the morning of April 4”.

After the stall was closed, inspections were carried out and “as more incidents were notified over the weekend, investigations further strengthened the association with consumption of Indian Rojak at the Rojak Geylang Serai. A joint MOH and NEA press release was issued on Monday to alert the public”, MOH said.

“Even while pending investigation, MOH also confirmed the facts with the media on Saturday itself and over the weekend.”

Asked about its considerations in alerting the public, the ministry said it issues health advisories “when there are outbreaks of diseases and illnesses” as part of its “efforts to advise the public to take precautions when there is a risk to public health”.

MORE VIGILANT

The number of food poisoning cases from the rojak stall has remained at 154 cases since Thursday, and there are now three patients still recovering in the hospitals, in stable condition.

And in the wake of the outbreak, 50 hawkers from four food centres polled yesterday by Today say they are more vigilant about hygiene. “We’re always very careful but the Indian rojak incident is a reminder that hygiene is a serious issue that we have to be careful all the time,” said a hawker at the Upper Boon Keng market and food centre, who only wanted to be known as Mr Jeffery.

All the food vendors said that, even before this, they have been careful about hygiene “every time”.

“If I know my customers fell ill after eating my food, I won’t be able to rest peacefully at night. I might even lose my business,” said Mr John Lim, 42, a hawker at the Old Airport Road food centre.

But hawkers also told Today that they would pay more attention to hygiene if the hawker centre they are in is cleaner.

Mr Chua Hua Kay, a hawker at Bedok Central food centre, said: “If the surroundings are very clean, the stall has to be very clean, too. Customers will not want to see a dirty stall in a clean hawker centre.”

From TODAY, News – Monday, 13-April-2009

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