Why Not Close it Down if they know it's so bad? Cos afraid of losing rental?
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Rojak stall given 'C' grade for hygiene in Dec
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The interior of the Rojak Geylang Serai stall, which remained shut yesterday. The number of patrons who have fallen ill after eating Indian rojak at the stall has risen to 137. One has died and another is still in a coma. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->HYGIENE standards at Rojak Geylang Serai were deemed satisfactory in December last year.
The stall at the Geylang Serai temporary market actually scored a 'C' grading when National Environment Agency (NEA) officials conducted a check.
Four months later, 137 patrons suffered food poisoning - one has died and another is still in a coma.
A spokesman for the agency, which is in charge of hawker hygiene, said that for the past three years, there has been a yearly average of four food poisoning incidents linked to hawker centre stalls.
An average of three people were affected in each of the incidents.
She said regular checks are conducted to make sure hawkers maintain 'a high standard of food and personal hygiene'.
'Each stall will be inspected at least once every six to eight weeks. Those with 'C' or 'D' grading are inspected more frequently than those with 'A' and 'B' grading,' she added.
The NEA came up with a simple grading system in 1997 so that customers have a better idea of the hygiene standards of hawker stalls.
Grades from 'A' for superior hygiene practices to 'D' for below average cleanliness are displayed prominently at each stall, and these are reviewed every year by environmental health officers to check if conditions have improved or deteriorated.
During inspections, hygiene irregularities are pointed out and stallholders have the responsibility to correct them. If not, demerit points are given and those who receive 12 or more points within a 12-month period will have their licences suspended.
Among the 5,600 cooked food stalls in hawker centres islandwide, 13 were suspended for various hygiene lapses in 2007. That figure rose to 19 last year. This year, four have already been suspended.
The NEA said the hygiene standards of stalls at the Geylang Serai temporary market remain satisfactory, but it will continue to keep a close watch.
The market's management committee, which is responsible for its upkeep and cleanliness, has also decided to bring forward its spring cleaning, originally scheduled for next week, to today and tomorrow.
A check with other hawker stalls selling Indian rojak found that while they throw away ingredients such as fried dough fritters, bean curd, boiled potatoes, prawn fritters and hard-boiled eggs, many do keep the sweet and spicy peanut sauce 'for a day at most'.
'We are all about quality. If we do not make our wares fresh, then we would lose our customers,' said Mr Sabeek Mohamed Yusuf, who manages Sabeena's Indian Rojak at the Albert Centre near Bugis.
Even hawkers selling satay, a dish consisting of diced or sliced chicken, mutton or beef on skewers, do not keep their peanut sauce for more than a day.
Mr Sulaiman Kassim, who helps his wife at her satay stall at Downtown East in Pasir Ris, said: 'We usually put the leftover peanut sauce in the freezer so that it will not go bad. That is only when more than half a pot of the sauce is left. Otherwise we will throw it away and make a new batch for the next day.'
JUDITH TAN
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Rojak stall given 'C' grade for hygiene in Dec
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
The interior of the Rojak Geylang Serai stall, which remained shut yesterday. The number of patrons who have fallen ill after eating Indian rojak at the stall has risen to 137. One has died and another is still in a coma. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->HYGIENE standards at Rojak Geylang Serai were deemed satisfactory in December last year.
The stall at the Geylang Serai temporary market actually scored a 'C' grading when National Environment Agency (NEA) officials conducted a check.
Four months later, 137 patrons suffered food poisoning - one has died and another is still in a coma.
A spokesman for the agency, which is in charge of hawker hygiene, said that for the past three years, there has been a yearly average of four food poisoning incidents linked to hawker centre stalls.
An average of three people were affected in each of the incidents.
She said regular checks are conducted to make sure hawkers maintain 'a high standard of food and personal hygiene'.
'Each stall will be inspected at least once every six to eight weeks. Those with 'C' or 'D' grading are inspected more frequently than those with 'A' and 'B' grading,' she added.
The NEA came up with a simple grading system in 1997 so that customers have a better idea of the hygiene standards of hawker stalls.
Grades from 'A' for superior hygiene practices to 'D' for below average cleanliness are displayed prominently at each stall, and these are reviewed every year by environmental health officers to check if conditions have improved or deteriorated.
During inspections, hygiene irregularities are pointed out and stallholders have the responsibility to correct them. If not, demerit points are given and those who receive 12 or more points within a 12-month period will have their licences suspended.
Among the 5,600 cooked food stalls in hawker centres islandwide, 13 were suspended for various hygiene lapses in 2007. That figure rose to 19 last year. This year, four have already been suspended.
The NEA said the hygiene standards of stalls at the Geylang Serai temporary market remain satisfactory, but it will continue to keep a close watch.
The market's management committee, which is responsible for its upkeep and cleanliness, has also decided to bring forward its spring cleaning, originally scheduled for next week, to today and tomorrow.
A check with other hawker stalls selling Indian rojak found that while they throw away ingredients such as fried dough fritters, bean curd, boiled potatoes, prawn fritters and hard-boiled eggs, many do keep the sweet and spicy peanut sauce 'for a day at most'.
'We are all about quality. If we do not make our wares fresh, then we would lose our customers,' said Mr Sabeek Mohamed Yusuf, who manages Sabeena's Indian Rojak at the Albert Centre near Bugis.
Even hawkers selling satay, a dish consisting of diced or sliced chicken, mutton or beef on skewers, do not keep their peanut sauce for more than a day.
Mr Sulaiman Kassim, who helps his wife at her satay stall at Downtown East in Pasir Ris, said: 'We usually put the leftover peanut sauce in the freezer so that it will not go bad. That is only when more than half a pot of the sauce is left. Otherwise we will throw it away and make a new batch for the next day.'
JUDITH TAN
