<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Convert hawker centres into air-con foodcourts
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to Wednesday's letter by Mr Paul Antony Fernandez, 'Filthy hawker habits must be checked', and would like to add that environmental hygiene plays an important role too in ensuring that food is safe and suitable for human consumption.
According to a food hygiene paper published by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation, some factors need to be considered in setting up an eating establishment to ensure that:
Contamination is minimised;
Design and layout permit appropriate maintenance, cleaning and disinfection, and minimise airborne contamination;
Surfaces and materials, in particular, those in contact with food, are non-toxic in intended use and, where necessary, suitably durable and easy to maintain and clean; and
Where appropriate, suitable facilities are available for temperature, humidity and other controls, and there is effective protection against pest access and harbourage.
Anyone who frequents heartland hawker centres will notice that their open-air design and layout do not create a suitable hygienic eating environment. Often, the floors inside and outside the stalls are wet and dirty (the hawkers' rubber boots confirm this), ceilings and overhead fixtures inside the stalls tend to have dirt and grease build-up, and pests such as cockroaches and lizards are often seen in the stalls.
Although they boast modern facilities such as running water, and tables and chairs unlike in the roadside stall days, the number of cases of food poisoning from eating at hawker centres is high.
In comparison, the air-conditioned foodcourt concept seems a better solution in the sense that hygiene challenges presented by an open-air environment may be better managed or monitored by stall owners as well as environment officials.
Perhaps the authorities can work towards converting open-air hawker centres into more hygienic air-conditioned foodcourts that can offer the same variety and quality of delicious local food, but in a cleaner environment. Leong Wai Ching (Ms)
Can! Up rental by 10x lor! *hee*hee*
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to Wednesday's letter by Mr Paul Antony Fernandez, 'Filthy hawker habits must be checked', and would like to add that environmental hygiene plays an important role too in ensuring that food is safe and suitable for human consumption.
According to a food hygiene paper published by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation, some factors need to be considered in setting up an eating establishment to ensure that:
Contamination is minimised;
Design and layout permit appropriate maintenance, cleaning and disinfection, and minimise airborne contamination;
Surfaces and materials, in particular, those in contact with food, are non-toxic in intended use and, where necessary, suitably durable and easy to maintain and clean; and
Where appropriate, suitable facilities are available for temperature, humidity and other controls, and there is effective protection against pest access and harbourage.
Anyone who frequents heartland hawker centres will notice that their open-air design and layout do not create a suitable hygienic eating environment. Often, the floors inside and outside the stalls are wet and dirty (the hawkers' rubber boots confirm this), ceilings and overhead fixtures inside the stalls tend to have dirt and grease build-up, and pests such as cockroaches and lizards are often seen in the stalls.
Although they boast modern facilities such as running water, and tables and chairs unlike in the roadside stall days, the number of cases of food poisoning from eating at hawker centres is high.
In comparison, the air-conditioned foodcourt concept seems a better solution in the sense that hygiene challenges presented by an open-air environment may be better managed or monitored by stall owners as well as environment officials.
Perhaps the authorities can work towards converting open-air hawker centres into more hygienic air-conditioned foodcourts that can offer the same variety and quality of delicious local food, but in a cleaner environment. Leong Wai Ching (Ms)
Can! Up rental by 10x lor! *hee*hee*
