Rilek1Corner

Tag: hygiene

  • Mothers: Check, Don’t Feed Your Sons Raisins With Worms

    Mothers: Check, Don’t Feed Your Sons Raisins With Worms

    Dear mummy friends, if you give this brand of raisins to your little ones beware of worms! My little boy was finishing one small box and towards the end I noticed the black specks and worms. Went home to check the rest in my pantry and also got worms. It still has almost 1 year before the expiration date. Now hoping he won’t get a stomachache.

    Edited: someone suggested that even the sealed boxes need to be stored in an air tight container and maybe In fridge to prevent this from happening.

     

    Source: Jamie Tang Chan

  • Hougang Residents Face Faeces Thrown At Their Flat

    Hougang Residents Face Faeces Thrown At Their Flat

    For the past four months, housewife Yeo Choon Lan, 66, has kept her kitchen windows closed and covered with a large plastic sheet.

    It might be unsightly, but it’s better than the alternative.

    Madam Yeo said in Mandarin: “A neighbour upstairs has been throwing faeces from their kitchen and bathroom window. I cannot sleep well at night because I’m afraid that it will enter the room or even break my window.”

    Nine pieces of excrement were found on the floor and walls outside Madam Yeo’s ground level unit at Block 694 Hougang Street 61 when The New Paper visited on Tuesday.

    Her ordeal began in May this year when she heard loud plopping noises outside her window at around 4am.

    But despite informing organisations, including the National Environmental Agency (NEA), the situation remains unchanged.

    Aside from more flies and ants, the excrement was untouched when TNP visited last Wednesday.

    The onslaught was the worst in June, when she would hear faeces thrown three times a day.

    “Excrement has fallen around 20 times (since May). It’s a very foul smell and we are very distressed,” said Madam Yeo, who lives with her husband, 69, and daughter, 40.

    The issue has also hurt her relations with her neighbours, a 32-year-old woman and her mother who live on the third storey and whom Madam Yeo suspects are the culprits.

    “Once, I saw the mother leaving the toilet shortly after some night soil had fallen,” Madam Yeo said.

    A neighbour on the third storey told TNP: “It’s very gross, I don’t dare go to the back where the faeces is.”

    Madam Yeo filed three police reports between June and September.

    LAWYERS WEIGH IN

    If charged, the culprit caught throwing faeces can face a fine not exceeding $1,000, said Mr Justin Tan, an associate lawyer at Trident Law Corporation.

    To initiate action, Madam Yeo will have to pay $20 to file a Magistrate’s Complaint, he said.

    The guilty party can then be charged under the Environmental Public Health Act.

    Mr Tan said: “The court will issue a notice for the person throwing excrement to attend court. They can then go through mediation or the victim can apply for the person to be charged.”

    However, if the faeces enters Madam Yeo’s compound, the offender can be charged under the Protection from Harassment Act, said lawyer Lim Kia Tong.

    “The magistrate can order the police to investigate,” said Mr Lim.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • Marina Square Eateries Still Reeling From Hotpot Culture Rat Incident

    Marina Square Eateries Still Reeling From Hotpot Culture Rat Incident

    Rats are still roaming Marina Square mall, and they have claimed their first victims.

    At least five eateries – The Corner Place Korean BBQ, Cafe Lady M, Addictions Cafe & Remedy Bar, Brazilian restaurant Carnivore Appetite and Italian Japanese restaurant Nuvo – have put up the shutters since January, when a dead rat was found in a salted vegetable dish at Hotpot Culture, which is on the fourth floor.

    An employee at the chain, who did not want to be named, said that Carnivore Appetite shut down in February. “Mainly, it was because of the rat infestation. Customer traffic really fell after that.”

    A former Addictions Cafe & Remedy Bar employee, Ms Rachel Doan, 35, said the cafe shut in February, ahead of its lease expiry in November, also due to the rodent problem.

    Nuvo shut on Jan 29 with a notice on its Facebook page declaring that it would cease operations “until the situation at Marina Square has been resolved”. It has not reopened.

    Lady M shut in January, with The Corner Place Korean BBQ following soon after. Prior to the latter’s closure, a manager was quoted in The Straits Times as saying that customers confused it with Hotpot Culture.

    The rodent problem remains, although it has eased.

    A spokesman for the National Environment Agency (NEA) said: “Our assessment is that there has been a marked improvement in the rat situation at the mall, as there has been a significant reduction in the number of rats caught.

    “However, as dead rats were still being found at the mall as recently as last month, it may still be some time before the ongoing rat control measures take effect fully .”

    Meanwhile, remaining eateries report poor business.

    Chinese restaurant Yechun Xiao Jiang Nan is likely to close when its lease expires at the year end. It is losing $20,000 each month, said managing director Li Jing.

    This is despite landlord Marina Centre Holdings’ rental reprieve of up to 30 per cent for July, August and September. Mr Li said the 20 per cent discount he received, off the more than $45,000-a-month rent he is paying, is not enough. He pointed out that other factors, such as road closures soon for National Day and the Formula One race next month, will hit business once again.

    At Vietnamese restaurant Lotus Saigon, business has halved since January. Supervisor Jenny Kim, 40, said: “It never returned to normal”.

    Meanwhile, Japanese restaurant Hamanoya shut for a month after the rat incident and reopened in March with a new menu.

    A Straits Times visit last week found restaurants empty at dinner time. The spaces where Nuvo, Addictions Cafe & Remedy Bar, and Lady M used to be remain vacant. On Carnivore Appetite’s entrance was a notice from the landlord informing the eatery that it had failed to comply with requirements to open daily from 10am to 10pm. “We are entitled to remove any goods… and apply the proceeds of the sales of such goods against the costs and payment incurred and any arrears of rent,” read the letter.

    When contacted, Marina Centre Holdings did not comment specifically on how it was addressing the pest problem or how many tenants received rental discounts.

    It would only say: “Pest control is an ongoing programme and we continue our vigilant pest control programme with our tenants.”

    However, The Straits Times understands NEA has taken enforcement action against the landlord.

    Oddly, business at Hotpot Culture is “almost back to normal”, said its owner Wilson Lim. The NEA said over 20 inspections of the eatery after its suspension was lifted in February found “no hygiene lapses or pest infestation”.

    Customers, meanwhile, are still giving the mall a miss.

    Ms Yeo Yeo Min, 31, said she will return for a meal only when the mall has been declared rat-free.

    “It’s just gross. I won’t eat there if I can help it,” said the engineer. “How would you know if the food you are eating is really hygienic?”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • NEA: Woman Making Curry Puffs At Home Was Part Of Syndicate

    NEA: Woman Making Curry Puffs At Home Was Part Of Syndicate

    ​The woman who was charged and convicted with selling curry puffs without a licence was the operator of a foreign syndicate mass producing curry puffs from her flat, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) in a statement.

    The New Paper published Madam Robiah Lia Caniago’s story on Monday, which attracted many responses from readers wanting to help her.

    The 40-year-old’s husband was jailed for drug offences in March 2012, and Madam Robiah claims she had to make curry puffs from her two-room rental flat at Lengkok Bahru to support her son, nine, and daughter, seven.

    She was fined $3,000, but as she could not pay up, she served a five-day default jail sentence instead.

    NEA said they had found Madam Robiah operating the curry puff business with eight other people in her flat. The curry puffs were being prepared on the floor and in “very unhygienic conditions”.

    The agency also released photographs of Madam Robiah’s flat when they inspected it in June last year.

    NEA’s statement is in full below:

    In 2014, the National Environment Agency (NEA) received public complaints concerning unlicensed mass preparation of curry puffs for sale at Block 61 Lengkok Bahru.

    Acting on information received, officers from NEA conducted a joint inspection together with the Housing & Development Board (HDB) and Ministry of Manpower (MOM), on 27 June 2014 at the HDB flat and found a foreign syndicate mass producing curry puffs. During the inspection, Mdm Robiah and eight other people, all of whom are on social visit passes, were preparing curry puffs on the floor of the premises. The food preparation was done in a very unhygienic condition and caused disamenities to the neighbours such as smell nuisance.

    When questioned, Mdm Robiah claimed that they were all her relatives. NEA’s records showed that four of them had been ticketed between four to 13 times previously for illegal hawking of curry puffs at various public places, such as MRT stations.

    This was also the second time within a month that the same premises was found to be used for unlicensed mass preparation of curry puffs.

    As they had not stopped their operations but continued to flout the law after the first inspection, Mdm Robiah was prosecuted in court for an offence under the Environmental Public Health Act, Section 32 for operating a food establishment without first obtaining a licence from NEA. Under the law, any person who contravenes the provision for the first time shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000. Mdm Robiah was fined $3,000 by the District Court on 27 May 2015.

    Assistance rendered to Mdm Robiah and family

    The Government is aware of Mdm Robiah’s family situation and has been rendering various financial assistance to Mdm Robiah and her family since 2012, when her husband was incarcerated. This includes help for rent and utilities, monthly financial assistance from Ministry of Social and Family Development and Ministry of Education (MOE), as well as services provided by Family Service Centres (FSCs).

    Guidelines on food hygiene and hawking

    NEA takes a tough stance towards errant food operators who flout hygiene regulations, especially those who run unlicensed operations, as they could pose serious threats to public health. Members of the public are advised not to buy food from illegal hawkers. In particular, illegally sold food items such as curry puffs may not have been prepared in accordance with proper hygiene procedures or undergone quality control checks.

    Any Singaporean who wishes to embark on hawking may rent a hawker stall from NEA. Local illegal hawkers in genuine financial difficulties are referred to social service agencies, Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) and self-help groups. They can approach the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) Career Centres located island wide for career and training advice and services to enhance their job search skills and employability. They can also register with Jobs Bank to search for jobs.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • Rats Found In Soup At Hot Pot Culture Marina Square

    Rats Found In Soup At Hot Pot Culture Marina Square

    What was supposed to be a value-for-money porridge buffet for a group of colleagues turned into a stomach churning experience after a customer allegedly spotted a dead rat in one of the restaurant’s free-flow dishes.

    Caron Chan was with four other colleagues at Hot Pot Culture’s porridge buffet at Marina Square when they made the grisly find.

    According to her, a colleague had spotted what she thought was a rat’s tail in a vegetable dish. Chan then proceeded to scoop out the rest of the mystery meat, to discover to her disgust that it was a whole rat carcass.

    She then approached a staff member.

    “The staff member didn’t even react quickly, she handled something else first, then came to us and told another employee to remove it. She just said sorry and that they would serve a new batch,” said Chan.

    “What about the other customers who already ate it? That was so gross. They should have quickly stopped operations.”

    Completely turned off by their find, Chan and her colleagues left the restaurant without paying, but informed the table next to them, which had already eaten the dish.

    “The lady at the table next to us told us that she was still charged by the restaurant. She has already lodged a complaint with the National Environment Agency,” said Chan, who posted photos of the rat dish on her Facebook account, which has since gone viral with almost 200 shares.

    When Yahoo! Singapore called Hot Pot Culture, the manager on duty said she was unaware of the rat incident.

    “As far as I know, I just heard that the dish wasn’t fresh and so we replaced it,” she said.

    When pressed further for information from the management, she took down the contact of this reporter and said the owner would be in touch.

    Yahoo! Singapore has contacted the National Environment Agency for comment.

    Additional reporting by Lester Ngan

     

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com