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SINGAPORE: Following the food poisoning outbreak at the Geylang Serai Temporary Market, the market's management committee has decided to bring forward a routine spring cleaning exercise originally scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday.
All stallholders will have to close and clean their stalls on Wednesday and Thursday.
According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), the hygiene standards of the market's stalls remain satisfactory and NEA will continue its close surveillance.
NEA officers have also briefed all the 82 cooked food stallholders and reminded them to practise good food and personal hygiene standards at all times.
Over at Waterloo Street, it is almost business as usual and rojak is one of the more popular items on its menu. But since the Geylang Serai food poisoning incident over the weekend, business has fallen slightly.
Although the demand for the dish may not be red-hot, most customers said the incident has not curbed their appetite.
One customer said: "If it's clean, I will eat it. Not all stalls are bad.
"All along, it's fine and there were no problems. It's probably just a one-off issue," said a man in the street.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said this incident should serve as a reminder of the importance of public hygiene.
Mr Khaw said: "This is a serious problem. But as consumers ourselves, I think, requiring that Singaporeans raise their standards of hygiene, personal as well as public hygiene, I think that is a continuous challenge. That we must always remind ourselves to do."
Mr Khaw said food handlers, in particular, bear a heavy responsibility to ensure such incidents do not recur.
He added the authorities are committed to finding out the cause of the incident. - CNA/vm
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