SG Complains

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Baby Rats Drop From Ceiling!!

According to SoShiok!

Singapore, December 29, 2008 – SHE was enjoying her lunch at the coffee shop when she suddenly shrieked – a newborn rat had fallen right into her plate of curry rice.

- OH MY GOODNESS!! Is this Singapore? I don’t really believe it!! There seems to be an increasing number of unhygienic cases in Singapore and I alone had encountered once baby cockroach in my mixed vegetable rice!

Problems encountered

  1. Confirmed Rats falling from ceiling onto food plates
  2. Possible Food source for Rats & Cockroach to sustain life on.
  3. Possible sabotages by competitors
  4. Possible bad “return the tray” collection location that have left over food for pests.
  5. National Environmental Agency closing one eye?
  6. Food operators lacking of funds to clean up the mess due to high operation cost & lower income.

Usual Wacky Solutions

  1. Open new stalls using fresh “meat” free from the ceiling!!!
  2. Open a pet stalls beside the coffee shop, $1 per rat baby.
  3. Ask customers to bring umbrella and open them when eating.
  4. Ask customers to sit far away from suspected hole on the ceiling.
  5. Put warning labels on that table that “additional meat coming your way!”
  6. Put a famous cooking recipes on the ceiling and leave the cooking stove on (Ratatouille)
  7. Close the coffee shop every Monday for CLEAN SWEEP Pest Control & Cleanliness Wash up & Inspection.
  8. Renovate their Coffee Shop and have all possible left over food under heavy cover and make sure there are no spills left unclean for too long.
  9. NEA to have a telephone number or email details Sticker everywhere on all tables of the coffee shops as a emergency feed back channel for immediate inspections and fines.

Unfortunately, coffee shops operating cost including rental, utilities, workers, raw materials and lacking of high number of customers may drive some of the stall owners to ignore cleanliness.

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Categories: Complaints - Singapore
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2 January 2009 at 22:32 - Comments
  • Anonymous
    simon, what do you think of the hygiene standards in Singapore so far? Are the standards higher for foodcourts compare to hawker centres?
  • Simon Tay
    Food courts doesn't necessary mean cleaner then coffee shops just the outlook much cleaner…

    Coffee shops nowadays managed by food court operators are not bad also…

    I think it's the toilets and food collection need improving…

    Some of the food collection points are not COVERED at all times hence flies and pest flourish there…making a scene or smell.

    The worst is the clean up guys are slow at their cleaning jobs and left the tables unclean for more then 3 customers visits on the same tables.

    Unless there is a Sake Sushi Style automated disposal system…or a robot to clean the table automatically…there will be a tough challenges ahead for high hygiene standards.

    There should be professional & practical ways to solve this problem.

    One maybe a plastic table cover x 100000 sheets…each customer takes one sheet and wrap up after the customer finishes and disposed off at nearest collection point with auto opening cover.

    High budget but very very clean.

    Toilet need big fans to blow the floor 24/7 with better drainage system.

    There might be a innovation to collect water from the ground and reuse it to wash the floor through a spray and blow types of system.

    With special high drying chemical…to improve evaporation…

    A special walk on mat to prevent user from stepping on the actual floor.

    If done nicely with automated perfume spraying …the toilet should be clean…always.
  • lai shan
    Do you agree that the toliets in hawker centres are more dirty than the toliets in food courts. Will cleaner toliets leads to more business for the food vendors?
  • Simon Tay
    Yes, cleaner toilets equal more hygienic food distribution which means better reputation & more customers in the long run.

    If given a choice to giving customers a clean toilet is to put the toilet a little further away from food stalls.

    From toilet designs on, I prefer toilet redundancy cleaning methods.

    That means, a additional toilet to used as "standby" toilet as to close the main toilet to "clean & dry" in those high human traffic locations.

    The problems that toilet cleaners faced is inability to allow the toilet to DRY after cleaning and toilet users simply step all over the wet floors making it futile in actually cleaning them.

    If with a standby toilet…the main toilet can be blown dry by powerful fans after a clean up and once "certified" dry…can allow users to use.

    The standby toilet can be unisex depending which toilet is being cleaned…if the male main toilet is under cleaning…then the standby is for the males with proper signs to indicate the obvious.

    The same goes for the female toilet.

    Well, toilet usage is also at fault for some customers don't really have good habits of cleaning after themselves or have zero knowledge of keeping the toilet clean.

    We cannot keep them from "dirtying" the toilet but we sure can advice them with constant reminders.

    Or in worst case scenario is to put a TV in front of them in the cubicles to show a facial recording of themselves doing businesses….to let them know the management keeps a record on WHO is the last person who dirty the cubicle!!

    Of course make sure the LCD Panels is locked properly to prevent theft…

    Of course don't record the toilet user below….just the FACE for entering the cubicle haha…at the mirror side.

    You can add in advertisement as well.
  • Anonymous
    I feel they should make girls toilets bigger because girls take longer time and the queue is always long for girls toilet. How to avoid that?
  • Simon Tay
    yeah more cubicles for female toilet :)
  • Gejian
    Should we also implement CCTV on how the food vendors prepare their food ? This is to ensure they follow the correct standards in food preparation as well as cleanliness.
  • Simon Tay
    Unless it’s a food court where the management can fork out the cost of the installation…don’t think the Gov NEA will fork up such cost and man power to monitor such things….they only know how to FINE these stall owners upon things to happen…like food poisoning.

    Well, the preventive measures can be an great incentive for hawkers…maybe they can have the cleanest stall contest…or something along that line.

    The best is to have a direct feedback channel for consumers to sms, call, email to NEA to come for a spot check…of course best if the consumer can take photos or video to submit youtube style.
  • Anonymous
    For your information, NEA has already grade the stalls according to their food preparation and stall cleanliness. That should be more than sufficient.
  • Simon Tay
    I wondered how often NEA review these grading of stalls.

    Any answers?
  • Anonymous
    Please write to Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg or 1800-CALL NEA (1800-2255 632) if you have any enquries regarding unhygienic food handling or issuing of permit for hawker stalls.
  • Anonymous
    When you found a cockroach in your plate of rice, did you complain to issue to NEA ?
  • vivien
    When you mention that NEA does not entertain calls and emails relating to minor issues, is there a particular experience that you encounter this issue ? On what basis do you make that statement?
  • Simon Tay
    What I mean, the NEA did not really advertise a hotline for complains did they?

    I may be wrong here, haven’t been watching television much lately.

    I did see some very weird advertisements in MRT about building a sustainable Singapore by doing charity or something.
  • Anonymous
    what is the advertisement about ? Is is some sort of save energy program or something?
  • Simon Tay
    beats me no clear message…I only look at it for 5-10 seconds…no idea what it wants me to do haha.
  • Shilla
    You think our government is doing enough to preach the concept of renewable energy to the people ?
  • Simon Tay
    I believe that the Gov is trying their best to do the ultimate renewable energy for “profit” and avoid loss of $$$.

    The ultimate problem now is COST, who shall fork out the initial cost and who shall benefit from the renewable energy.

    The real problem is the “bureaucratic” delay to avoid shouldering responsibilities of complains…from ignorance folks who suffer a slight blackout due to inefficient renewable energies technology like solar panels.

    I had spoken with my local ministers and even attended sustainable Singapore forum with no concrete conclusion and decisions.

    They are almost clueless about what is a real sustainable Singapore means.

    Sustainable in terms of food/water/energy is probably impossible now with our growing population and high population density.

    We need self sustainability at our own expense…but I don’t think the Gov wants to promote that.
  • Anonymous
    how can Singapore as a country with limited space be sustainable in food and water ?
  • Simon Tay
    Regarding how Singapore can be sustainable with locally produced food and water…i have to start a brand new article on this.
  • Anonymous
    do you consider singaporeans ‘green minded’?