Healthy Me - At Home and Away: Geylang

Showing posts with label Geylang. Show all posts

Monday, April 20, 2009

Agency should take responsibility

Letter from Tony Lee

I REFER to “Rojak stall owner to be charged” (April 15).

Is Mr Sheik Allaudin Mohideen solely to be blamed for the tragedy? Judging from the number of rats caught during the big cleanup, the appointed agency maintaining the cleanliness of the eating place should also take responsibility. If the tragedy did not happen, the rats would still be running around.

Is anyone questioning the cleaning agency or the relevant Government agencies tasked to maintain the cleanliness standard of Geylang Serai temporary market?

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

Friday, April 17, 2009

Cleaning stepped up

Albert Centre Temporary Market
Hygiene grades dropped after move; centre gets first spring-cleaning for the year

ESTHER NG
estherng@mediacorp.com.sg

An NEA officer inspecting a stall at Albert Centre Temporary Market yesterday.OOI BOON KEONG

GRADES dropped when hawkers from 270 Queen Street moved further up the road to new premises at the Albert Centre Temporary Market last July.

The 70 dry goods stores, 29 wet market stalls and 73 cooked food stalls had to shift because their previous premises are being upgraded. Some hawkers said that their hygiene rating dropped to C when they moved over.

“We used to be B, but now it’s C. The National Environment Agency (NEA) officer said it is because the place is a temporary market,” said Ms Jamayah Hassan of Indonesia Satay Stall.

Currently, only two of the 73 cooked food stalls are graded A, while four are a B. The remaining 67 hawkers all received Cs. Previously, there were four A-grade stalls, 49 B-grade and 20 C-grade stalls. According to the NEA, the change in grading for some stalls was due to “housekeeping and poorer fittings and fixtures at the temporary premises”.

It explained that the stalls had “to be freshly assessed” when they moved to the temporary location. The NEA gave the stallholders three months to settle in before it conducted the grading exercise. In the case of the cooked food stallholders, the assessment took place on Sept 30 and new decals were given to them on Oct 6.

Yesterday, the centre got its first spring-cleaning for the year. It was a move planned since mid-March, said the centre’s hawker committee chairman Michael Tan.

The committee has also stepped up its cleaning regime since the food poisoning outbreak at Geylang Serai Temporary Market.

“We now clear plates and food debris hourly. We used to do this after busy periods. We’ve also increased the frequency of our cleaning from two to three times a day on top of the end-of-the-day hose down,” said Mr Tan.

A contractor carries out the cleaning of drains, toilets and common areas.

Yesterday, NEA officers were also on hand to inspect the premises. They climbed on chairs to look at the top of cupboards as well as behind them, shining their torches to see better. They also ran their fingers along the sides and under shelves, checking for dirt, grime or vermin.

“We check for chipped crockery, the shelves above the cooking area and whether rubbish is properly disposed of,” said Mr Dennis Tan, one of the officers.

Stall holders told Today that they have no qualms about the extra vigilance.They also said they experienced a slight business dip during the initial reports of the Geylang Serai outbreak, but business has since recovered.

From TODAY, News - Tuesday, 14-April-2009

Thursday, April 16, 2009

‘C’ is not for Cleanliness

POINT OF VIEW
Perhaps the C grade for hawkers should be probationary

Derrick A Paulo
deputy news editor
derrick@mediacorp.com.sg

The recent mass food poisoning in Geylang will prompt some hawkers to be more hygienic and some Singaporeans to be a little choosier about where they eat.

But let’s not kid ourselves — for how long?

Our current standards of hygiene are “5/10 or worse”, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said last week. A far cry from the dark days of Sars, which saw a nation obsessed with hygiene.

So, if the goal is to use this latest unfortunate incident to improve hygiene for the long-term, food vendors need to be given more than just an earful.

It is clear that many Singaporeans don’t mind at all eating at a food stall with a C rating for hygiene — this was borne out by a Today poll and a separate one later by The Straits Times.

In fact, some Singaporeans go as far as to say that hygiene ratings here are inversely related to culinary standards and taste.

So what’s the incentive for stall holders to keep cleanliness standards high? Why not have a tiered rental system, where hawkers with A-grade hygiene pay a lower rental?

Financial carrots and sticks are a tried-and-tested tactic here, one which has in the past elicited a speedy change in behaviour and in some cases a lasting change.

Is it really asking too much of C-grade hawkers, who made up 14.3 per cent of all stallholders last year, to use gloves and tongs or cover cooked food?

The National Environment Agency uses a demerit-point system to deal with such omissions, which environment officers catch when they make their rounds once every six to eight weeks. But otherwise, hawkers can hang on to their C grade for life. Perhaps, the system needs to be less tolerant of lower hygiene standards and make the C grade a probationary grade.

Hawkers who do not improve to a “B” within, say, three months, should be suspended until the next round of checks.

And those with D grades — seven stalls out there scored 40 to 49 out of 100 — should be immediately suspended.

Mr Khaw has already said that he plans to bar any food stall operator with a C rating from operating within hospitals. It is a signal of what standards we ought to accept, and the rating system should take its cue.

Of course, hawkers need the help of their customers and food centre operators to keep their surroundings clean.

The World Health Organisation marked World Health Day last week with the message that food safety is a shared responsibility. Now is the time to make some changes to that end.

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

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

13 Test Positive for Deadly Bacteria

Indian rojak in Singapore. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Foodhandlers at the Rojak Geylang Serai stall used the neighbouring mee siam booth to store and wash their equipment.

According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), they also shared the refrigerator in the mee siam stall.

The MOH said some 154 people came down with food poisoning last week and 48 were hospitalised. Six patrons are still recovering in hospital.

Tests confirmed 13 cases to be positive for the bacteria vibrio parahaemolyticus. Among them was Madam Aminah Samijo, who died on Monday. According to MOH, the bacteria, traced to the consumption of rojak from the stall, was most likely due to cross-contamination of rojak and raw seafood ingredients harbouring the bacteria.

Three of the five food handlers at Rojak Geylang Serai have tested negative and the results of the other two are pending.

Meanwhile, hundreds turned up for the funeral of Mdm Noraini Kassim yesterday, the second person to die after eating tainted rojak at the temporary market.

Family members said they are waiting for an official report from the National Environment Agency before deciding their next course of action.
- ESTHER NG

From TODAY, News – Friday, 10-April-2009

----------
Health and beauty products, radically

Hawkers get an earful

Geylang Food Poisoning
Health Minister says cleanliness standard is unacceptable

Esther Ng
estherng@mediacorp.com.sg

Spring-cleaning before the reopening of the market. Wee Teck Hian

ON THE eve of its reopening after two days of spring-cleaning, some 100 stallholders from the Geylang Serai Temporary Market attended a refresher course on cleanliness conducted by officers from the National Environment Agency (NEA).

And according to stallholder Ahman, they received an earful from one of the officers.

“He told us that he has been at the market at 1am for the past few days and back again at 4am — checking our stalls to see that they are clean,” said the 44-year-old chicken-rice seller, whose stall is opposite the Rojak Geylang Serai, which is at the centre of one of Singapore’s worst food poisoning scares.

“He warned us that he will take photos of untidy stalls and instead of giving us a ticket, he’ll summon us to court.”

During the hour-long briefing at the Kampong Ubi Community Centre, stallholders were reminded about housekeeping and hygiene.

They told Today that NEA officers had killed some 60 rats yesterday, which pointed to a cleanliness standard that Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan called unacceptable.

“During Sars we were very good, maybe 9/10. After Sars, I think we (have) dropped to maybe 5/10 or worse. You look at toilets. Remember the “Toilet is OK” campaign? At that time it was okay, now it is not so okay,” Channel News Asia quoted him as saying.

The Minister added that he had written to Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, who is currently out of town, to suggest that the NEA use the opportunity to raise hygiene standards here.

On his part, the Health Minister said he plans to bar any food stall operator with a hygiene rating of C from operating within hospitals. Those currently graded C will be given three months to shape up.

The rojak stall apparently had a C-rating according to reports. Two women have died and six patrons are still recovering in hospitals as more than a 100 people fell ill after eating allegedly contaminated rojak at the temporary market.

Said Ms Siti Hasnah of kueh stall Warong SK 2M: “The NEA officers showed us slides of what they expect from us — cover the food, don’t mix cooked and uncooked food; don’t put pots and pans on the floor. It’s not that we don’t know all these things, but sometimes people get careless or they only think about themselves and not how (the lack of hygiene) can affect others, so this is a good reminder.”

The temporary market has 369 booths, of which 83 are cooked food stalls.

Mr Ahman, whose stall is opposite the rojak booth, said he has been “feeling bad, sad and worried” ever since the food poisoning incident.

“I feel sad that two people have died, but I’m worried because we all have a business to run,” he said.

The stallholder estimated that his business had dropped by 15 to 20 per cent. “I can’t tell how my business will go now that the centre is re-opening. Weekends are usually good. We’ll see.”

From TODAY, News – Friday, 10-April-2009

----------
Be healthy, in and out

Monday, April 13, 2009

2 more struck by food poisoning after eating at Geylang restaurant

Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph showing Salmonella typhimurium (red) invading cultured human cells (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Channel NewsAsia - Monday, April 13

SINGAPORE : Two more people have come down with food poisoning after eating at the steamboat restaurant BaShu RenJia in Geylang on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to 14.

Two were hospitalised, and one of them has since been discharged
The case comes hot on the heels of another mass food poisoning case involving a rojak stall at Geylang Serai Temporary Market.

The steamboat restaurant operator said that after the incident on Friday, five officers from the National Environment Agency (NEA) came to collect food samples for testing.

A joint statement from the Health Ministry and NEA said that they did not detect any hygiene lapses likely to be linked to the food poisoning, after conducting checks on the premises.

And so while the shop will remain in operation, the operator has advised its customers to ensure their food is thoroughly cooked before consumption.
However, 13 of its food handlers have been sent for screening at the Communicable Disease Centre.

The place, which has a "B" grade for hygiene, said it has since beefed up its level of cleanliness.

Wu Xiao Ju, worker, said: "After the incident, we cleaned every corner of the place. It has been cleaned thoroughly. Our ingredients are fresh and the food items are prepared every day. And we use detergent to clean the tables, floor and walls."

The restaurant said it received many calls from concerned customers following the incident.

Business has since dropped by half, but some customers are still patronising the place.

One customer said: "I am confident of the food quality at this restaurant. I am not worried at all."

The restaurant said some customers who are not used to the spiciness of the steamboat could end up with upset stomachs.

Channel NewsAsia spoke with Wang Zhen Hui, one of the people affected by the food poisoning. He and seven others were hit after eating at the place Friday night. Mr Wang ended up in hospital.

He said: "When I was at the hospital, I met this stranger. He was on the bed next to me. He had the same symptoms. He also ate the steamboat that night. So I guessed it could be the plates because they felt very oily."

He was discharged on Saturday afternoon to recuperate at home while his friends received outpatient treatment. — CNA/ms

From Yahoo! News, Singapore. Find the source article here.

----------
Be healthy the radical way