refer to the letter sent to the media by NEA Chief Executive Officer Andrew Tan which was published on 18 April 2009 by The Straits Times (read letter here)
While I applaud Mr Tan for his promise to step up NEA’s vigilance and enforce higher standards of public hygiene on all food outlets, there is no way we can move forward unless the mistakes unearthed by the Geylang Serai food poisoning outbreak are acknowledged and addressed.
Mr Tan’s lengthy article is full of empty rhetoric on NEA’s past efforts to maintain public hygiene in Singapore, but stop short of admitting culpability on the part of both the market’s management committee and NEA itself.
According to Mr Tan, the number of food poisoning cases in Singapore is “very low”. Over the last three years, there has been an “average of only four food poisoning incidents” a year.
I have serious doubts about the accuracy of the quoted figure. Food poisoning cases are hardly reported to the authorities by doctors unless there is suspicion of a major outbreak like the Geylang Serai case.
As we have no real figures on the number of actual cases of diarrhoea caused directly by poor food hygiene, it is inappropriate to use it as a measure of NEA’s track record in upholding public health and hygiene.
Read rest of article here:
http://wayangparty.com/?p=7943
While I applaud Mr Tan for his promise to step up NEA’s vigilance and enforce higher standards of public hygiene on all food outlets, there is no way we can move forward unless the mistakes unearthed by the Geylang Serai food poisoning outbreak are acknowledged and addressed.
Mr Tan’s lengthy article is full of empty rhetoric on NEA’s past efforts to maintain public hygiene in Singapore, but stop short of admitting culpability on the part of both the market’s management committee and NEA itself.
According to Mr Tan, the number of food poisoning cases in Singapore is “very low”. Over the last three years, there has been an “average of only four food poisoning incidents” a year.
I have serious doubts about the accuracy of the quoted figure. Food poisoning cases are hardly reported to the authorities by doctors unless there is suspicion of a major outbreak like the Geylang Serai case.
As we have no real figures on the number of actual cases of diarrhoea caused directly by poor food hygiene, it is inappropriate to use it as a measure of NEA’s track record in upholding public health and hygiene.
Read rest of article here:
http://wayangparty.com/?p=7943
