The recent food poisoning cases, caused by the Rojak Stall in Geylang Serai that claimed one life and another 136 people infected with VP virus, have raised much concern about the hygiene standards of our hawker centres as well as some of the restaurants here in Singapore.
May be just a coincidence. Since I came back to Singapore on 25 Mar, I’ve fallen ill twice, one after another – first cough and then followed by a mild food poisoning (not related to the Geylang cases). And subsequently, I also learnt that my daughter and son-in-law were also down with food poisoning. Luckily our illnesses were not serious, they just gave us some discomfort and mild diarrhoea for a couple of days only. With some right medication, the symptoms just disappeared gradually. I cannot jump into conclusion that these illnesses were caused by the food from the stalls, but I believe high chances that they are as we seldom cook at home and like to eat out. How about let’s take a close look into how our foods are prepared in Singapore, be it a hawker centre or a restaurant?
Some observations from my personal experiences may raise your eyebrows:
1. Do you notice most of the hawkers never wash the vegetables before cooking. High chance of getting pesticide poisoning.
2. By right, all hawkers are supposed to wear gloves when preparing foods. However this practice has been reduced to a mere formality. Some hawkers would wear glove on one hand, but prepare food with both. Some would use a piece of plastic bag as glove and that piece of plastic would be used and reused for the whole day. Some would wear gloves, prepare food but also receive money as well. The list could go on, if you’re observant enough.
3. It’s still a practice. Many stalls would keep the unsold foods for tomorrow. Those who patronize the stalls in the early hours of opening next morning who be the lucky chaps to get these special-reserved foods.
4. It’s not uncommon to see hawkers, during free time, cutting toes’ nails, scratching feet or digging gold from their noses. When customers approach, they would just continue their businesses without even rinsing their hands first.
5. Have you seen what actually happened when foods were accidentally knocked down onto the floor? You would notice the hawker would not pick it up and throw them down into the trash bin immediately. They would keep them aside and then …..
This is, however, just the tip of an iceberg.
For us to achieve the hygiene standards set by the advance countries such as Japan or the West, we have still a long way to go. What say you?
Jump out of the box into Loh's space 
I do agree that food prepared by the stalls and restaurants is not as clean as what a home prepared food could provide. The cook must be ethical to know the benchmark if the food can be brought to the table and ultimately sent down to the stomach.In regards to the recent Geylang Seria’s case, it is indeed a very shocking news. Perhaps we should look at both sides of the coin – it may not because the food is not properly clean as some virus growing in the food just couldnt be killed off easily. Anyway, we need to understand more on what is this virus is about 🙂
Agree with you that it may not be the fault of the stall holders for the case happened in Geylang Serai. What I’ve pointed out here were some unhygienic practices commonly seen among some hawkers in Singapore. To me, strict rules and fines are just some temporary measures, education and awareness of hygiene are keys to the solution.