NEA Too Scared to Close Down Poison Rojak Stall!

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>April 9, 2009
Rojak food poisoning
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Stall did not display correct hygiene grade
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Stallholder insists his stall graded 'B' even though NEA revised rating to 'C' </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Sujin Thomas
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Mr Allaudin, 70, outside his rojak stall, which displays a 'B' or good hygiene rating - even though the grading has been revised to 'C' by the NEA. He says that he is sorry about what has happened to his customers, and is prepared to face the consequences. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->TOLD that a second person had died after eating what seemed to be tainted Indian rojak from his stall, Mr Sheik Allaudin Mohideen, 70, could only utter: 'I don't know what to say.'
After composing himself, he mounted his defence: Since taking over the stall 10 years ago, he has had a clean record, he said. He also took umbrage at news reports that said his stall had received a 'C', or average, hygiene grading. He insisted that it has always been graded 'B', or good.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
VIDEO
</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- Background Story --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Not true, stated the National Environment Agency (NEA), saying that the stall's rating had been revised to 'C'.
On his hygiene record, NEA would say only that no offences have been recorded against him for the last five years.
Mr Allaudin was sombre when he spoke to The Straits Times yesterday morning. He had been wandering aimlessly around the Geylang Serai Temporary Market, which is next to his home in Eunos, casually chatting with other stallholders. Nearby was one of his two sons, both of whom help him run the popular stall with two helpers.
He declined to speak about the incident initially, but changed his mind on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Allaudin said the first clue he had that something had gone horribly wrong came last Saturday morning, when two men approached him at his stall and berated him for serving their family members tainted food.
He said he was so stunned by their tongue-lashing that he threw away the peanut gravy that he had been preparing for his Indian rojak that day.
Shortly after, he was approached by officers from the NEA, who told him 80 people had come down with food poisoning after eating at his stall.
The stall, described by other stallholders as the main draw of the centre, was then shut, and has to remain so until the authorities allow it to reopen.
On Wednesday, Mr Allaudin dismissed talk that he might have been serving leftovers. He maintained that whatever was left unsold when he closed his stall at 10pm each day was thrown away.
Continuing to plead his innocence, he said: 'I'm just running a business. I had no intention of harming people. I'm very upset.'
He said he has spent most of his time since Saturday cooped up in his four-room flat, afraid that he would be confronted by upset customers.
Asked about the level of hygiene at his stall, he said he prepares and serves rojak 'in a clean manner'.
He said he buys almost all his ingredients from the wet market next door and prepares the dough, fritters and gravy at the stall itself.
He also said he trusted his food suppliers and did not check the produce they delivered to his stall each morning.
He added that the incidents have weighed heavily on him.
'I haven't been able to sleep or eat since Tuesday night. I don't know if I'm going to live or die.'
He would have liked to have been at the funeral of Madam Aminah Samijo, 57, on Tuesday, he said, but was afraid to go.
Asked if he would go to the funeral of the second victim, Madam Norani Kassim, 58, he replied: 'I don't know how her family will react if they see me.
'What can I do? I am so sorry this happened to my customers. I can only leave this matter to God now,' he added.
Investigations, meanwhile, are continuing. All five who work at the stall have given stool and blood samples to the authorities.
Police, as well as officials from the Health Ministry and NEA, have also taken statements from them.
Yesterday morning, more officials descended upon his stall, snapping photographs of its interior.
Mr Allaudin has no idea where all this is going to lead to, but he said he was prepared to face the consequences.
It was clear, though, that what lies ahead for his business was on his mind. Casting a wary eye on the future, he said: 'Customers have told me that my rojak is good but after this, I'm not sure if it will be No. 1 again.'

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>April 9, 2009
ROJAK FOOD POISONING
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Victims fell ill after eating seafood items
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Be wary of undercooked food and those left in the open for too long: Experts </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Judith Tan
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MOST of those who came down with food poisoning after eating Indian rojak at Geylang Serai had sampled either the prawn fritters or the cuttlefish, or both.
That was what Dr Helen Oh, a senior consultant dealing with infectious diseases at Changi General Hospital, established after the staff spoke to 77 patients treated there.
The seafood items were believed to have been contaminated by Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning associated with the consumption of raw or partially cooked seafood.
Twelve victims, including the first person to die from the poisoning, tested positive for the bacterium - a sub-species in the same family as those that cause cholera - in the Health Ministry's probe.
'It is not as common here. The more common causes include salmonella, staphylococcus aureus and E.coli,' said Dr Oh.
Salmonella is a bacterium found in poultry, eggs, unprocessed milk as well as meat and water. E.coli can be found in undercooked meat, unpasteurised apple juice and milk, and salads.
Staphylococcus aureus bacteria is found on the skin and in the nostrils of up to 25 per cent of people and animals.
Gastroenterologist Tay Khoon Hean said: 'If the food handler does not adopt proper hygiene, or is a carrier, then he passes this bacteria on and the food he touches would pass the germs on to the people who eat it.'
To ensure seafood is safe, Dr Oh said clams, oysters, mussels, scallops and other molluscs should be cooked.
'Raw seafood, or meats for that matter, should be kept well chilled at refrigerator temperatures, even while defrosting. They should never be defrosted at room temperature,' she said.
Food experts at both the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore and the National Environment Agency (NEA) said the situation is worsened when food is left sitting in room temperature for more than two hours.
The warm and humid weather in Singapore aids bacterial growth.
Dr Oh said: 'In nearly all the cases we saw from last Friday, they had bought the rojak between 11.30am and 7pm. Some did not eat the food immediately but left it for a couple of hours at room temperature.'
Instead, food should be put into the fridge and re-heated after.
This recent spate of food poisoning has raised concerns about food left in the open, especially at hawker centres.
Stalls selling yong tau foo or ngoh hiang, for example, leave the items out in the open for customers to pick.
Experts say such vulnerable food would be safe to eat if they are fried or boiled again. The NEA added that cooked food like chicken, char siew and duck should not be left for more than four hours at ambient temperature.
'These foods can typically last for 12 hours, if placed in an air-con environment. But they should be discarded after,' said Dr Tay.
Dr Oh said trouble arises also when the food is not cooked thoroughly in the first place and brought up prawn fritters as one example.
'When the quantity is large, deep frying them all at once in the wok may result in some not being properly cooked, ' she said.
The experts' advice? If the food has an unusual texture, smell and appearance, avoid it. [email protected]

still waiting for conclusion after their investigation on the cause of the food poisoning. could it be the poison which used to eliminate rodents?

i had seen a stall at a hawker centre using cockcroach spray at her stall yesterday. guess the stall woman must be naive - she doesn't know the spray is poisonous?!!!!!

Is the fogging of mosquitoes under NEA?......... understood there was some fogging going on around the vicinity....... NEA's fault ?

Everyone's favourite Rendang Curry ! Yum Yum !

NEA 'gabra' big time, rats running amok around the vicinity and Kitchen Help Tan claimed he as delegated his work cleverly!

Perhaps the French ought to tell him to keep his NEA in order before he decides to moonlight as kitchen help in the future!!!!