Singapore Suspends National Food Defence Programme after 20 SOTA Students Fall Ill from Ready-to-Eat Meals

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

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.

Want to advertise your business on our website, or on The Blue Cat’s video series? Click here!
Cat with computer

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

Exercise SG Ready, conducted under the Total Defence banner, aims to simulate crisis scenarios such as power outages and food supply disruptions.

Read Also:  77-Year-Old Petrol Station Attendant Hit by Reversing Car at Geylang Esso, Dies 11 Days Later

Would you be jailed for being half-naked in public? Well, the answer will shock you. Seriously. Watch this to the end and you'll understand: