Debated in Parliament on 19 Jan 2015.
Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources following the death of a boy after having consumed food from a stall at a food court at Northpoint Shopping Centre (a) why was the case not highlighted to the public when it happened in January last year; (b) whether there are other cases where the victims have since recovered; and (c) what steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence of such an incident.
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) what has been the number of deaths due to food poisoning at NEA-licensed food establishments in the past five years; (b) whether NEA can provide an update on the recent case whereby a four-year-old boy died from salmonella septicaemia after eating at a food court at Northpoint Shopping Centre in Yishun; (c) why is there a time lag from the time of the incident till the coroner's inquiry when the public is alerted; and (d) what are the additional measures that the Ministry will take to ensure that food sold at retail outlets is prepared hygienically and thus safe for consumption.
NEA was notified of the episode on 24 January 2014 when the tragic incident was also reported in Tamil Murasu. NEA took immediate action by conducting an inspection of the food stall jointly with MOH on the same day. There were no other reported cases implicating this food stall. For public health safety, NEA suspended the stall’s licence on the very same day.
Two hygiene lapses were detected – failure to register a food handler and failure to protect food in a covered receptacle. These lapses contravened the Environmental Public Health (Food Hygiene) Regulations. The operator was directed to conduct a thorough cleaning of the food stall and for all its food handlers to re-attend the Basic Food Hygiene Course. The suspension was lifted after NEA was satisfied that the licensee had thoroughly cleaned the food stall and food samples and environmental swabs taken from the food stall all tested negative for food-borne pathogens. NEA then sought the Attorney-General's Chambers’ advice and waited for the Coroner’s Inquiry to be completed before pursuing Court action.
The findings of the State Coroner were released on 30 October 2014 and reviewed on 31 December 2014. NEA has taken the licensee to Court for the two food hygiene offences and the licensee was fined a total of $1,400 by the Court on 2 December 2014. The licensee has also cancelled her food stall licence after the food court operator terminated her tenancy
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agreement on 7 November 2014. This episode is a good reminder of the importance for all food stall and food shop operators to practise good food and personal hygiene.
NEA currently licenses about 35,000 retail food establishments. There were no other fatalities linked to food poisoning from NEA-licensed premises since 2010. NEA takes lapses in food hygiene very seriously. Strict enforcement action will be taken against any errant food retail outlets who do not practise good food hygiene. The penalties for violations of the Environmental Public Health (Food Hygiene) Regulations were increased for all categories of food hygiene offences in April 2010. For exposing of cooked food without proper cover and for failing to register assistants, the licensee may be fined up to a maximum of $2,000 upon conviction of the offence. They will also accumulate demerit points for each offence committed and, upon accumulating 12 demerit points within a 12-month period, their licence will be suspended as an additional administrative penalty for two weeks. If the licensee continues to be recalcitrant and practise poor food hygiene practices, their licence may be revoked.
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