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SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) said it would step up its vigilance and enforce higher standards of public hygiene on all food outlets here.
The agency made the point in its reply to feedback following the Geylang Serai Temporary Market's rojak stall incident where two people died and more than 100 people fell ill from food poisoning.
NEA said it would also embark on more public education programmes to emphasise that everyone has a part to play in Singapore's food hygiene standards.
Khoo Seow Poh, director-general of Public Health, NEA, said: "We also learn from (the Geylang Serai) incident certain lapses and will tighten our internal procedure to make sure that the system that we have today will continue to serve us well.
"Of course, for the whole hygiene system to work, we need everybody to play a part. For that, NEA will be doing much more in terms of educating the public."
NEA added that its grading system for food stalls recognises those who make the effort to improve and sustain cleanliness.
Those stalls which are graded A and B are inspected every eight weeks, while those which are graded C and D are inspected every six weeks.
The proportion of Grade A and B stalls has gone up from 46 per cent in 2002 to 86 per cent last year.
Anthony Teo, owner of a Grade C food stall, said: "I don't think the grading affects our customers because we have been here for a very long time."
Mr Khoo said the purpose of the grading system is to give the public a choice – they can look at the hygiene grade and then decide whether or not to patronise the stall.
"We can learn and improve to ensure that the decal on grading is timely issued and always up to date for the stalls. This is something we will tighten to ensure that the grading system works well," he said.
More refresher training on food and personal hygiene for stallholders will also be rolled out.
- CNA/so
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