However, it was recently hit with a food poisoning scandal. As of Thursday, April 9, 146 cases of rojak poisoning were reported. Out of these people, 48 were hospitalised. The main symptoms experienced by these cases were severe abdominal cramps, vomiting, and diarrhoea. Most of the patients have been discharged but 11 are still hospitalised.
Many of the patients had eaten seafood items from Rojak Geylang Serai (the stall that was responsible for the cases) - either the prawn fritters or cuttlefish, or both. According to a source, the seafood items were believed to have been contaminated by Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a bacteria and a cause of food poisoning. This bacteria is commonly associated with food poisoning involving partially cooked or raw seafood.
Among those warded, two women - Madam Noraini Kasim and Mdm Aminah Samijo - have died. One woman who was two months pregnant had a miscarriage. This is could be Singapore's worst case of mass food poisoning yet. Workers from the stall have been told to go for screening at the Communicable Disease Centre.
A MOH (Ministry of Health) spokesman said a joint inspection was conducted with officers from the NEA (National Environmental Agency) on Saturday morning at the stall.
Samples were collected from the stall and investigations are still going on. A NEA spokesman also said that the agency was notified about the food poisoning cases by the hospitals and customers of the stall. The owner of the stall had a ‘C’ grade for hygiene.
Mr Allaudin at his stall in Geylang Serai temporary market
This leads us all to wonder, if even a poor hygiene grade will not stop customers from patronising a stall, then what is the use of having this grading system in the first place? The owner of the affected rojak stall, 70 year old Mr Allaudin was still displaying a ‘B’ hygiene grade even though the hygiene grade for his stall had been revised to ‘C’.
I am quite sure that even if he had been displaying the correct hygiene grade, his business would not have been affected. After all, a few days back, there was a report in The Straits Times which stated that hawkers with low hygiene grades did not feel that their business was being affected.
So, what use is the hygiene grade for then? I think that the lowest standard of hygiene required to operate a hawker stall which is ‘D’, is not good enough. I think that only stalls with a ‘B’ grade and above should be allowed to operate. This way, it would be safer for the public as there would be a lower risk of something bad happening like food poisoning.
Even though Mr Allaudin apologised and said that he had ‘no intention of harming people’, it is too late. The damage has already been done. However, it was good of him to admit that this fiasco was his fault and he was ready to undertake the full consequences.
This shows that he was honest enough to admit a mistake. In today’s society, many people have an extremely high standard of their pride. They would never humbly admit that they are wrong. This is something we can learn from Mr Allaudin.
References:
http://www.asiaone.com/Health/Eat%2BRight/Story/A1Story20090407-133857.html http://www.straitstimes.com/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=1f2f0c7499b80210VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=cf70758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD
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