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.
CNA understands that about 20 students were affected.
In an email to students on Wednesday seen by CNA, SOTA vice-president 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.
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 students who consumed the chicken bolognese pasta suffered from symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.
CNA has reached out to the relevant authorities for comment.
These 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 the Singapore Food Agency (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.
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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.
CNA understands that about 20 students were affected.
In an email to students on Wednesday seen by CNA, SOTA vice-president 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.
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 students who consumed the chicken bolognese pasta suffered from symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.
CNA has reached out to the relevant authorities for comment.
These 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 the Singapore Food Agency (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.
Continue reading...