Food poisoning outbreak: 187 cases linked to Total Defence Day ready-to-eat meals, probe underway

A total of 187 cases of gastroenteritis were reported during the Total Defence food resilience programme across schools, Active Ageing Centres and public agencies.

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu gave these figures in Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 4) in response to several MPs who asked about the food safety of the ready-to-eat (RTE) meals distributed as part of a national preparedness exercise.

Responding to MPs Tan Wu Meng (Jurong GRC) and Dennis Tan (Hougang SMC) on the number of cases, Minister Fu said that as at Monday (March 3), 184 were from schools, two from Active Ageing Centres and one in a public agency.

This constituted about 0.16 per cent of the participants, she added.

"All affected individuals have received the necessary medical attention and have since recovered. None were hospitalised," said Fu.

"The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has also collected samples of the meals for testing and did not find any foodborne pathogens.

"SFA and Ministry of Health are conducting a comprehensive investigation of this unfortunate incident, and SFA will take the necessary enforcement actions if any lapses are detected."

About 150,000 RTE meals, developed by food caterer Sats, were to be distributed from Feb 15 to 28 as part of 2025 Exercise SG Ready, which aims to strengthen Singapore's food resilience amid simulated power outages.

The halal-certified meals — including curry chicken with briyani rice, fish porridge with sweet potato and pumpkin, and vegetable marinara pasta — were cooked using advanced techniques similar to those used for Singapore Armed Forces combat rations.

But the programme was suspended on Feb 20 after 20 students from the School of the Arts (Sota) developed symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting after consuming the meals.

Sats later said in a media statement that since Feb 11, it has delivered 1,475 meals to Sota and over 100,000 meals to more than 200 locations as part of the exercise.

Sats passed SFA's inspection before Total Defence programme

In a media statement on Feb 20, Sats had said that it would be working with authorities to identify the root cause of the food poisoning cases.

It added then that these include an examination of its products, production sites and other consumed items, as well as other potentially contributory factors such as environmental influences.

In Parliament on Tuesday, Fu said that SFA had inspected Sats premises on Jan 23 prior to the start of the Total Defence food resilience programme.

"The premises were found to be clean, and no food safety violations were detected," she said, adding that each meal produced by Sats was individually tested for leaks.

An SFA-accredited laboratory had also conducted sample microbiological testing to ensure food safety, said Fu.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com