Singapore authorities have suspended the Total Defence food resilience programme following a food poisoning incident at the School of the Arts (SOTA).
Twenty SOTA students developed gastroenteritis symptoms, including diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting, after consuming ready-to-eat meals during Exercise SG Ready on 18 Feb 2025.
Total Defence Food Resilience Programme to be Suspended
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA), Ministry of Education (MOE), Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), and food caterer SATS announced the programme’s suspension in a joint statement on Thursday (20 Feb 2025) morning.
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The affected students represent approximately one per cent of SOTA students who consumed the meals. None required hospitalisation.
SATS had prepared five meal options, including chicken bolognese pasta, curry chicken with biryani rice, and vegetable marinara pasta. The meals were designed to be stored without refrigeration and had a shelf life of up to eight months.
Part of Bigger Initiative, Targeting More than 90 Schools Across Singapore
The ready-to-eat meals were part of a larger distribution plan targeting over 100,000 students and teachers across more than 90 schools.
The initiative also included plans to distribute meals to 8,000 seniors across 111 Active Ageing Centres.
SOTA Vice-President Pauline Ann Tan has requested students to return unconsumed meals as a precautionary measure.
Preliminary investigations suggest this is an isolated incident, with no other cases reported at other participating venues.
The authorities are replacing ready-to-eat meals produced from the same batch at participating venues while investigations continue.
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Exercise SG Ready, conducted under the Total Defence banner, aims to simulate crisis scenarios such as power outages and food supply disruptions.
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