SINGAPORE: Students from the School of the Arts (SOTA) have reported symptoms of food poisoning after consuming ready-to-eat meals distributed as part of a national preparedness exercise.
The meals were handed out on Tuesday (Feb 18) as part of Exercise SG Ready, which simulates crises such as power outages and disruptions to food supplies under the broader Total Defence exercise.
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA), Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Health (MOH) and food caterer SATS said in a joint statement on Wednesday night that they are investigating the gastroenteritis cases.
A total of 20 students from SOTA were reported to have developed gastroenteritis symptoms as of Wednesday. This is about 1 per cent of the total number of students in the school who consumed the ready-to-eat meals, said the authorities.
“None were hospitalised, and teachers have and will continue to check in with students on their well-being,” they added.
“Based on preliminary findings, this is an isolated incident at SOTA. No incidents have been reported in other participating venues thus far.”
The statement said that SFA and MOE are working with participating schools to put in place further precautionary measures, including replacing ready-to-eat meals produced from the same batch.
In an email to students on Wednesday seen by CNA, SOTA vice-principal Pauline Ann Tan acknowledged reports of students feeling unwell after consuming the ready-to-eat meals and said investigations were underway.
“As a precautionary measure, we would like to collect the unconsumed RTE (ready-to-eat) meals so that we can follow up on this matter,” she said in the email.
Students were told to drop the boxes off at the school’s general office on Wednesday. Those who had taken meals home were asked to bring them back the following day.
Those who felt unwell were advised to seek medical attention and inform their class mentors. An email with a similar message was later sent to parents of students.
According to the joint statement on Wednesday night, the authorities said they will continue to work with participating schools to reiterate the importance of food safety.
This includes signs where the food packaging is compromised or situations where the food shows signs of deterioration, as well as good personal hygiene in the consumption of ready-to-eat meals such as washing hands with soap thoroughly.
DIARRHOEA, NAUSEA, VOMITING
The ready-to-eat meals were developed by food caterer SATS for public consumption in national emergencies. Leveraging its experience in producing army combat rations, SATS designed these meals to be stored without refrigeration, eaten at room temperature and with a shelf life of up to eight months.
Five meal options are available: Chicken bolognese pasta, curry chicken with biryani rice, fish porridge with sweet potato and pumpkin, sweet spicy tomato fish with basmati rice and vegetable marinara pasta.
CNA understands that some SOTA students who consumed the chicken bolognese pasta suffered from symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.
The ready-to-eat meals are being distributed to over 100,000 students and teachers from more than 90 schools as part of the Food Resilience Preparedness Programme, an initiative led by SFA.
Beyond the schools, SFA is also working with the Agency for Integrated Care to distribute the meals to seniors at Active Ageing Centres across the island, with over 8,000 seniors across 111 centres taking part.
