3 More Centres Affected & 184 Cases in S’pore Kindergarten Mass Food Poisoning Saga


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Singapore has seen a spate of mass food poisoning incidents since late last year.

5-Star hotels, a secondary school canteen, Spize, and most recently (and still ongoing), kindergartens in Singapore.

Mass Food Poisoning at PCF Kindergartens 

On 27 March 2019, it was reported that 4 PCF Sparkletots centres were being investigated for cases of food poisoning.

The four centres are located at Blocks 210, 270, 290A and 298B Sengkang Central

And it wasn’t one or two.

Across all four centres, 109 individuals developed gastroenteritis, or more commonly known as food poisoning, or stomach flu.

15 of them had to be taken to the hospital.

The Same Catering Supplier

What makes the entire thing so iffy was that the centres all got food from the same supplier.

Kate’s Catering was the main suspect and authorities have suspended their operations and investigated their premises.

Stool samples were taken from food handlers and food samples were brought in to be tested on.

But before anything concrete can be revealed, the mass food poisoning saga took a turn for the worse.

3 More Centres Affected

One day after the authorities announced their investigation into the mass food poisoning, it was revealed that 3 more PCF Sparkletots centres have displayed symptoms of food poisoning.

They are located at Blocks 262A and 208 Sengkang Central, as well as the PCF Sparkletots pre-school at Punggol North.

And the number of reported cases has increased from 109 to 184. Again, it wasn’t mentioned if they’re solely students, or teachers were affected as well.

Nine of them are in the hospital, thankfully in stable conditions.

Similar to the original four centres, the food at these centres were provided by Kate’s Catering.


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Interim Measures

11 Sparkletots centres (including the affected seven) were getting food from Kate’s Catering.

They have since suspended all orders and are getting the food from a certified in-house cook during the investigations.

PCF has also pledged that they will provide support and help to all affected families.

Meanwhile, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has focused on health and hygiene checks during routine visits to pre-schools.

Possible Consequences

One thing for sure, Kate’s Catering is highly likely to suffer consequences for this.


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After all, after the previous few high-profile mass food poisoning cases in Singapore, every party involved in those cases had their hygiene rating reduced.

Michelin-Star Summer Palace had their hygiene rating reduced from A to C.

Swissotel’s Equinox, similarly, had its rating reduced from A to C.

Plus, a reduced hygiene rating for a catering service that caters to children? It’s going to be tough for them to get another contract with PCF pre-schools after this incident.