Singapore confirms 187 cases of food poisoning in national training programme
04/03/2025
The food poisoning incident was first reported at the Singapore School of the Arts, when 20 students developed symptoms of gastroenteritis. - Decorative photo
SINGAPORE: Singapore authorities confirmed 187 cases of gastroenteritis or inflammation of the stomach and intestines as a result of consuming ready-to-eat foods provided during the Total Endurance training in February, Xinhua reported.
Of those, 184 cases involved schoolchildren, Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu said on Tuesday in response to a question in Parliament, saying all affected individuals had recovered.
During the Parliament session, MPs asked questions on the causes of symptoms, microbiological studies and the shelf life of the products tested, the process of assessing ready-to-eat food suppliers for government programmes, as well as whether any penalty action would be imposed on SATS, the food providers involved. Fu said tests conducted by the Singapore Food Agency on the food samples collected did not detect any foodborne pathogens. He said the agency and the health ministry were conducting a thorough investigation and appropriate enforcement action would be taken if any loopholes were detected.
The food poisoning incident was first reported at the Singapore School of the Arts, when 20 students developed symptoms of gastroenteritis after consuming ready-to-eat meals distributed between Feb 15 and 28 as part of the SG Ready 2025 exercise, a national preparedness exercise.
Apart from schools, elderly care centres also receive the food.
A total of 150,000 meals are planned to be distributed in the training aimed at enhancing Singaporeans' preparedness against power outages due to cyberattacks.
