Total Defence food resilience programme suspended as precautionary measure due to SOTA food poisoning cases
A total of 20 SOTA students developed symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting after consuming ready-to-eat meals that were distributed as part of the Food Resilience Preparedness Programme.
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SINGAPORE: A national preparedness initiative which involves ready-to-eat meals was temporarily halted on Thursday (Feb 20), following cases of food poisoning at the School of the Arts (SOTA) arising from the meals.
In a joint statement on Thursday morning, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), together with the Ministry of Education (MOE), Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) and food caterer SATS, said it “will pause the Food Resilience Preparedness Programme as a precautionary measure until investigations on the SOTA gastroenteritis cases are concluded”.
CNA first reported about the gastroenteritis cluster at SOTA on Wednesday.
A total of 20 students developed symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting after consuming the meals.
The ready-to-eat meals were originally intended to be distributed to over 100,000 students and teachers from more than 90 schools as part of this year’s Food Resilience Preparedness Programme, an initiative led by SFA.
Beyond the schools, it had also planned to work with AIC to distribute the meals to seniors at Active Ageing Centres across the island, with over 8,000 seniors across 111 centres taking part.
The meals were developed by SATS for public consumption during national emergencies. Leveraging its experience in producing army combat rations, SATS designed these meals to be stored without refrigeration and eaten at room temperature, and to have a shelf life of up to eight months.
SOTA students had been provided with the meals on Tuesday as part of Exercise SG Ready, which simulates crises such as power outages and disruptions to food supplies under the Total Defence banner.Â
The affected students form about 1 per cent of the total number of students in the school who consumed the ready-to-eat meals, said SFA, MOE, the Ministry of Health and SATS on Wednesday.
THOROUGH INVESTIGATION
SATS later said in a media statement on Thursday that since Feb 11, it has delivered 1,475 meals to SOTA and over 100,000 meals to more than 200 locations as part of the exercise.Â
It added that there have been no other reported incidents to date.
The firm is collaborating with the authorities to identify the root cause of the cases.
"A thorough investigation will include an examination of our products, production sites and other consumed items, as well as a consideration of potentially contributory factors such as environmental influences," it said.
"Although this situation has raised concerns, we want to emphasise and assure everyone in no uncertain terms that food safety is our highest priority."
The firm added that it ensures the highest food safety and quality standards by using advanced sterilisation techniques for its ready-to-eat meals.
"All ingredients are traceable to their sources, with suppliers undergoing rigorous audits. Our quality assurance team oversees every production step, from preparation to final inspection," it said.
"Our facilities meet internationally recognised food safety certifications, reflecting our commitment to leading industry standards."
