Hygiene checks: What about school canteens?

I refer to recent reports on the hygiene ratings of hospital food outlets and would also like to highlight the importance of food hygiene in school canteens.

Recently, my son came down with a bad case of gastroenteritis. We suspected he could have caught the bug from the food he ate at his school canteen earlier. He had said then that the food was not warm.

My main concern is whether we are exposing our children to health risks if they consume canteen food that has been prepared early in the morning, and which is repeatedly heated until late afternoon.

As many students have to stay back in school for co-curricular activities or extra lessons, they would probably have lunch in school.

Are the canteen vendors properly trained and certified by the National Environment Agency (NEA)?

How many of them are graded 'A'? How often are they checked by the NEA?

As children are generally more vulnerable, I would prefer the school canteen stalls to be graded 'A' and no less.

Instead of having individual stalls being tendered out by canteen operators, why can't the food be supplied by a central kitchen operated by certified food caterers?

By so doing, we can be assured that the food is properly prepared and transported to the various school canteens. Fresh supplies could be delivered during the lunch and afternoon breaks.

I hope the NEA can coordinate with the Education and Health ministries to come up with creative ideas on how to improve the level of hygiene in school canteens.

Josephine Koh (Ms)