Singapore Food Rating
Singapore is such a small country. It is so small that every moment you take, every step you make, you are under ’surveillance’. The teacher will know when you are standing up, the teacher will know where you are roaming around in the class…
In school, grades are everything. Teachers’ appraisal are graded(and based on students’ grades also). How to know if a person is ‘better’ than another? Marks and grades? Everything is graded in school. Things which are not graded are deemed to be not important!
Anyway, you think that points and grading is given just to students. But it is being used in this big ‘classroom’ or school of ours here.
Singapore is said to be a food paradise or a eating paradise. Here, you can find food anywhere you go, unlike places like California, where you need to travel far distances and you have no guarantee to find food that will suit your appetite. But here, in Singapore, you can eat Western Food, Chinese Food, Korean Food, Japanese Food and so on, readily at Food Court or Coffee Stall within your neighbourhood.
A Means You Can Close Your Eyes?
There isn’t any Food Rating in the past. As Singaporean become more ‘educated’, soon we see A, B, C, ‘paper’ pasted at the Food Stall. What does these A, B, C piece of paper mean?? Obviously A is very good, as we had learned in school, and C is not so good…
Over the years (I don’t even remember when this rating system was started), what I had learned is: Rating or not, it does not make any difference to me.
Don’t wait for Stomachache to start looking for Toilet Paper
The last major Food Poisoning case in Singapore was that of Prima Deli. Recently, the most major one was the Geylang Serai Temporary Market’s rojak stall incident where two people died and more than 100 people fell ill from food poisoning. This has caused public concerned over the food served at food outlets.
Food outlets with A, B hygiene ratings rise to 85% in 2008
Channel NewsAsia – Friday, April 17
SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) grades food establishments in Singapore A, B, C and D according to their hygiene levels.
A is for excellent, B means good, C is average and D means below average.
NEA Grading System: The Grading System for Eating Establishments and Foodstalls was introduced in June 1997. Its two main aims were to provide a more structured system of appraisal for food outlets and to motivate licencees to improve and maintain good personal and food hygiene at their stalls. Besides providing recognition to licensees to improve and maintain a high standard of cleanliness, housekeeping and hygiene, this system enables the public to make a more informed choice when patronizing these stalls…
NEA says that the grading system helps not just the agency, but vendors as well.
Head of Operations, Environmental Health Department, NEA, Tai Ji Choong, said: “It provides a starting point for them (the vendors) to improve themselves. So from there we are able to work with the operator to improve his hygiene level.”
Competition You Mean?
Is there a need to improve themselves when all the grading at a particular food outlet is the same? Example, at Coffee Shop XXX, you have all the stalls graded B; at Air-conditioned Food Court, you would see Straight As — Food Stalls with a blue piece of paper written “A” on it, all the food stalls in this Food Court (no joking… all the stalls with A grades). It really makes no difference to me anymore after I had seen all these. (I will show you what I see… must wait for me to write)
The grading is based on a score derived using an assessment checklist.
Criteria for assessment include cleanliness and housekeeping, food hygiene, personal hygiene and other factors like food transportation.
NEA also has a demerit point system as an added measure.
In spite of the recent food poisoning cases, NEA says food stall ratings have in fact improved significantly over the past seven years.
Mr Tai said: “In 2002, (food outlets graded A or B) was about 58% (of those assessed). Last year, (the number) increased to 85 per cent. So I say this is a significant increase in the overall hygiene standards in Singapore.”
What You See Is Not What You Get
Perhaps you are right. There might be more cases of Food Poisoning without all these strict ‘Food Policemen’ around. But how effective are they? Over the last 10 years, the rating system was not changed nor reviewed… How sure can we to trust such AWARD? What is the guidelines used or the criteria used? Having a “A” (with certificate of recommendation: wait for me to write on this) or having a “LION HEAD AWARD” does not mean SERVICE EXCELLENCE to me anymore.
NEA says these figures refer to food shops like bakeries and supermarkets, and food stalls in coffeeshops and food courts only.
Over in Geylang Serai, where the latest food poisoning outbreak took place, business has been severely affected.
And it is not just the hawker food stalls that are suffering. Even those selling other goods, such as clothes and household items, say they have seen their revenue fall by up to 70 per cent due to the smaller crowds patronising the hawker centre.
Some have been forced to lower their prices to attract customers, but the vendors are still worried that even this will not be enough to bring business back to normal.
— CNA/yt
TEACHING
Always teach the right attitude, the right Way to do business. If your business is in the right way, you don’t have to think of ‘crooked’ way to ATTRACT customers. Customers will come to you if you meet their needs and if they trust you. It’s more than just HYGIENE.
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Loading ...Tags: eating, educating public, environmental health, food business, food hygiene, food outlet, food poisoning, NEA grading system
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