Sunday 15 January 2012

Unhygenic Practices in Food & Hawker Centres - do you feel the same way?


Unfortunately, many feel the same way as Straits Times reader, Ho Chee Khuen, who wrote to its Forum page on 5th Jan 2012 (page A37).

He ends the letter with a request for the "relevant authorities" to do something about it. In fact, there IS something that can be done. If NEA can take a look at Synnovate Solutions that tackle many of the problems faced by F&B operators in Singapore - labour shortage, cleaning effectiveness, productivity and operational costs - Synnovate can go a long way towards solving the type of problems described by Mr Ho.

Below is the full text of the letter:

Eight dirty reasons he's resorted to takeaways
(from Straits Times Forum page 5th Jan 2012)

As a frequent patron of coffee shops and hawker centres, I have gradually resorted to takeaways rather than eating-in because of the increasing prevalence of these unhygienic conditions:

- Crockery and cutlery are washed with only plain water and are often oily when used to serve food.
- Cups are dipped once in soapy water and then plain water, and taken out ready to be used again.
-  Sweaty sellers with sleeveless shirts bending their bodies over food when cooking or serving.
-  Washing of dishes on dirty floors near toilets.
- Coffee shop toilets are filthy and cannot possibly provide food stall workers with hygienic conditions.
- Cutlery is placed directly on trays that are wiped with cloth used for cleaning dirty tables.
- Servers holding the eating part of chopsticks or other cutlery with the same bare hands that hold table cleaning cloth or dirty dishes.
- The same person who handles cash transactions, handles food as well - with his bare hands.

Can the relevant authorities consider prescribing and enforcing higher standards of food stall hygiene so that eating out does not feel like a public health risk?
By Ho Chee Khuen

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