SINGAPORE — Less than three months into its work, the non-profit group seeking to provide healthier catered meals to foreign construction workers in Singapore has heard from five contractors who have expressed an interest to come on board.

Mr Jack Sim, founder of Base of Pyramid (BoP) HUB, which is behind the project, said it aims to have 50 construction companies behind its efforts by the end of the year. It is already looking at expanding the project to low-income groups by reaching out to voluntary welfare organisations such as TOUCH Community Services and the National Kidney Foundation.

Yesterday afternoon, nearly 200 migrant workers got a taste of the fortified rice — which has essential vitamins and minerals — that BoP Hub is looking to package and sell to caterers under a social enterprise called 45Rice. The food-tasting event, held at Tuas View Dormitory, was organised in collaboration with Dutch food supplement manufacturer Royal DSM and NUS CARE.

One worker who tried the meal was Mr Didar, 42, a Bangladeshi who works in the construction industry. “If it’s catered to us, I will (definitely) choose it ... It’s quite tasty,” he said.

Indian construction worker Baleamurudam, 28, whose family does farming back home, added: “The rice is a little like the ponni rice we eat ... It tastes good, it’s quite smooth.”

The project came about after Mr Sim read a TODAY report in March last year that cited a study on the poor nutritional value of meals catered for foreign workers. The meals can cost as much as a quarter of a worker’s monthly salary. Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) found that the meals — usually a pile of rice and some tinned meat or curry — are often delivered hours in advance.

Mr C S Chellappa, director of Srinath Catering, said the project solves the problem of expensive food catering and weeds out unscrupulous middlemen who handle orders and payments on behalf of workers and caterers. He has started supplying fortified rice directly to about three construction companies, and charges about S$130 per month for each worker.

“It’s better for us now as there are proper (channels) now ... We get paid on time ... Now, we can focus on ensuring good-quality meals,” he said.

Noting the current gap in ensuring standardised food quality and delivery timings, Mr Sim said he is working on developing an “ecosystem” involving 200 contracting companies this year. “If the first 20 companies start to do it, the rest will join the trend to follow to be responsible employers ... It will have a snowball effect,” said Mr Sim. “Productivity is not just about introducing more technology, or skills training ... We also need to help our workers have healthy bodies, so they have the high morale to do productive work.”

45Rice is looking to set up its own production facility here by the second half of this year, and serve nearly 350,000 foreign workers in Singapore.