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SINGAPORE: Moved by the plight of foreign workers in Singapore, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) is working with caterers and a food supplement manufacturer to supply fortified rice — which comes with essential vitamins and minerals — to low-wage labourers who are currently getting poor quality meals at work.
By cutting out the middlemen between foreign workers and caterers, the NGO is also seeking to ensure that the meals are more affordable for the workers and delivered fresh, among other things.
The project hopes to reach out to about 350,000 foreign workers in Singapore, especially those in the construction industry, and other low-wage earners.
The Base of Pyramid (BoP) Hub — a non-profit group started in 2011 by World Toilet Organisation founder Jack Sim, which aims to combat poverty through commercial solutions — is working with Dutch food supplement manufacturer Royal DSM to import fortified rice kernels enhanced with essential micronutrients. These kernels will then be blended with regular milled rice, packaged and sold to caterers in Singapore under a social enterprise to be named 45rice — a play on the term “fortified”.
Since November last year, BoP Hub has also begun a pilot programme with a contractor, Unison Construction, to order, pay and supply food directly to foreign workers. Such a model will weed out middlemen who earn up to S$30 a month from each worker. There have been cases where unscrupulous middlemen default on payment to caterers after taking money from the workers.
Mr Sim, who sealed the partnership with Royal DSM after two trips to Switzerland and Holland in the middle of last year, said the idea to supply fortified rice to foreign workers in Singapore came about after he had read a TODAY report in March last year.
Photo from Banglar Kantha showing a catered meal for a foreign worker in Singapore.
The news report — which generated much interest online, with some netizens expressing outrage — cited a study on the poor nutrition of meals catered for foreign workers that can cost as much as a quarter of a worker’s monthly salary. Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and NGO HealthServe found that the meals — usually a pile of rice and some tinned meat or curry — are often delivered hours in advance.
Adding that 45rice — which has yet to be incorporated — wants to create a culture of responsible employment in Singapore, Mr Sim said: “Employees need strong bodies too, thus we hope employers can participate in this scheme. When workers are happy, they have better morale and productivity. We live well, but if construction workers building our homes do not live well, that isn’t fair.”
He added that the foreign workers do not need to pay more for fortified rice as the price premium is negligible and will be borne by the caterers. “Whatever the foreign workers are paying now is as much as they can afford, so we do not plan to change that,” he said.
PRICE, TASTE MAIN CONSIDERATIONS, SAY CATERERS
Nevertheless, caterers whom TODAY spoke to cited the price as a consideration, as well as the taste of the fortified rice.
Said TS Group owner Sham Kumar: “Someone has got to absorb the premiums if they are not to be transferred to the workers.“ He noted that most foreign workers here have a preference for ponni rice, a variety widely cultivated in Tamil Nadu.
A spokesman from Aysha Catering added: “The Bangladeshi and Indian workers are very strong in their food culture. So it also depends on whether they can accept the taste.”
By the end of this year, BoP Hub hopes to set up its own production facility in Singapore, which will use local resources and manpower to produce, sell and distribute fortified rice.
Foreign workers here previously interviewed by TODAY had said they were served stale, unpalatable food, which was often delivered several hours before meal time. Many packed meals also do not come with time stamps, they added.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) requires caterers to provide time stamps with their packed food, indicating when the food was cooked and when to consume it by. The NEA recommends that cooked food kept under temperatures of between 5°C and 60°C be consumed within four hours of preparation.
45rice project manager Kevin Moon said BoP Hub will work with contractors directly to get food for the workers. “Contractors will then make payment from the workers’ salaries through BoP Hub,” he said.
After the situation was brought to light, BoP Hub had studied the issue. Apart from finding out the role of middlemen, BoP Hub researchers also received feedback from foreign workers that they suffered from, among other conditions, dysentery, weight loss and gastric attacks due to the poor quality of food they consume.
“Since rice is the main staple foreign workers and the general population in Singapore consume, the effects of fortified rice is likely to be evident after consistent consumption,” said Mr Moon. The health benefits would mean fewer sick days for foreign workers and their employers would gain from that as well, he said. “Eventually, we hope to roll out the fortified rice programme in other countries in Asia as well, especially those that have similar situations as Singapore — developed countries that tap on migrant workers.”
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/ngo-steps-in-to-ensure/2401094.html?cid=fbsg
By cutting out the middlemen between foreign workers and caterers, the NGO is also seeking to ensure that the meals are more affordable for the workers and delivered fresh, among other things.
The project hopes to reach out to about 350,000 foreign workers in Singapore, especially those in the construction industry, and other low-wage earners.
The Base of Pyramid (BoP) Hub — a non-profit group started in 2011 by World Toilet Organisation founder Jack Sim, which aims to combat poverty through commercial solutions — is working with Dutch food supplement manufacturer Royal DSM to import fortified rice kernels enhanced with essential micronutrients. These kernels will then be blended with regular milled rice, packaged and sold to caterers in Singapore under a social enterprise to be named 45rice — a play on the term “fortified”.
Since November last year, BoP Hub has also begun a pilot programme with a contractor, Unison Construction, to order, pay and supply food directly to foreign workers. Such a model will weed out middlemen who earn up to S$30 a month from each worker. There have been cases where unscrupulous middlemen default on payment to caterers after taking money from the workers.
Mr Sim, who sealed the partnership with Royal DSM after two trips to Switzerland and Holland in the middle of last year, said the idea to supply fortified rice to foreign workers in Singapore came about after he had read a TODAY report in March last year.
Photo from Banglar Kantha showing a catered meal for a foreign worker in Singapore.
The news report — which generated much interest online, with some netizens expressing outrage — cited a study on the poor nutrition of meals catered for foreign workers that can cost as much as a quarter of a worker’s monthly salary. Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and NGO HealthServe found that the meals — usually a pile of rice and some tinned meat or curry — are often delivered hours in advance.
Adding that 45rice — which has yet to be incorporated — wants to create a culture of responsible employment in Singapore, Mr Sim said: “Employees need strong bodies too, thus we hope employers can participate in this scheme. When workers are happy, they have better morale and productivity. We live well, but if construction workers building our homes do not live well, that isn’t fair.”
He added that the foreign workers do not need to pay more for fortified rice as the price premium is negligible and will be borne by the caterers. “Whatever the foreign workers are paying now is as much as they can afford, so we do not plan to change that,” he said.
PRICE, TASTE MAIN CONSIDERATIONS, SAY CATERERS
Nevertheless, caterers whom TODAY spoke to cited the price as a consideration, as well as the taste of the fortified rice.
Said TS Group owner Sham Kumar: “Someone has got to absorb the premiums if they are not to be transferred to the workers.“ He noted that most foreign workers here have a preference for ponni rice, a variety widely cultivated in Tamil Nadu.
A spokesman from Aysha Catering added: “The Bangladeshi and Indian workers are very strong in their food culture. So it also depends on whether they can accept the taste.”
By the end of this year, BoP Hub hopes to set up its own production facility in Singapore, which will use local resources and manpower to produce, sell and distribute fortified rice.
Foreign workers here previously interviewed by TODAY had said they were served stale, unpalatable food, which was often delivered several hours before meal time. Many packed meals also do not come with time stamps, they added.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) requires caterers to provide time stamps with their packed food, indicating when the food was cooked and when to consume it by. The NEA recommends that cooked food kept under temperatures of between 5°C and 60°C be consumed within four hours of preparation.
45rice project manager Kevin Moon said BoP Hub will work with contractors directly to get food for the workers. “Contractors will then make payment from the workers’ salaries through BoP Hub,” he said.
After the situation was brought to light, BoP Hub had studied the issue. Apart from finding out the role of middlemen, BoP Hub researchers also received feedback from foreign workers that they suffered from, among other conditions, dysentery, weight loss and gastric attacks due to the poor quality of food they consume.
“Since rice is the main staple foreign workers and the general population in Singapore consume, the effects of fortified rice is likely to be evident after consistent consumption,” said Mr Moon. The health benefits would mean fewer sick days for foreign workers and their employers would gain from that as well, he said. “Eventually, we hope to roll out the fortified rice programme in other countries in Asia as well, especially those that have similar situations as Singapore — developed countries that tap on migrant workers.”
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/ngo-steps-in-to-ensure/2401094.html?cid=fbsg
