Another Food Poisoning Case, This Time Affecting 190 People from TungLok Catering

The food poisoning case that happened earlier this month, affecting 72 people with one death, is still fresh in our mind when another of this case happened again, this time affecting more people.

As of yesterday (23 November 2018), 190 people reported symptoms of gastroenteritis after consuming food from a caterer.

Thank God none of them were hospitalized.

Here’s what happened.

1,000 Bento Boxes; 190 Affected

Yesterday, there was an event in Singapore Expo, the SCDF’s public exhibition Lifesavers’ Connect. TungLok Catering, the catering arm of the F&B giant, is one of the in-house catering service providers for Singapore Expo.

For the event, they had prepared 1,000 bento boxes made by seven staff. The bento box comprises rice and three dishes, one of which is curry chicken.

190 people who had the bento boxes then reported symptoms of gastroenteritis, which includes vomiting and diarrhoea.

NEA Stepped in

NEA immediately stepped in to suspend of Tung Lok Catering in Expo, putting up a notice in their website as below:

In the interest of public health, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has suspended the licence of Tung Lok Catering (Licence number: SE12K16A000) at 1 Expo Drive, #02-05, Max Atria @ Singapore Expo, Singapore 486150. The suspension is with effect from 23 November 2018 until further notice.

Together with MOH and AVA, NEA is investigating multiple cases of gastroenteritis traced to the consumption of food prepared at Tung Lok Catering.  All food handlers working in the suspended premises are required to re-attend and pass the Basic Food Hygiene Course, before they can resume work as food handlers. NEA would like to remind food operators to observe good food and personal hygiene practices at all times. NEA will not hesitate to take firm action against anyone found to be in violation of the Environmental Public Health Act.

In the interest of maintaining a high standard of food hygiene at all eating establishments, we would also like to advise members of the public who come across poor hygiene practices in food establishments not to patronise such outlets but to call our 24-hour NEA Contact Centre at 1800 – CALL NEA (1800 – 2255632) with details for our follow-up investigations.

According to the president and CEO of TungLok Group, they had operated in Singapore Expo for at least six years, and this was the first time such a case happened. He added, “Our kitchens have all been certified ‘A’. Things like this can happen and we hope to get to the root cause of it.”

They would be working with the authorities in their investigations.

As mentioned in the notice, it is unknown when the suspension would end.