SINGAPORE — Popular eatery Spize will have to shut down its River Valley outlet after its licence was terminated, following investigations which revealed an “unusually severe” outbreak of gastroenteritis from “heavily contaminated” food.

The National Environment Agency (NEA), Ministry of Health (MOH) and Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said in a joint statement on Friday (Dec 7) that there was “strong evidence” of severe contamination from poor hygiene and food handling practices.

NEA has terminated Spize’s operating licence for its River Valley outlet with immediate effect, and will be taking enforcement action for its “egregious” lapses.

Spize’s other outlets at Rifle Range Road, Bedok and Siglap will still be allowed to operate, as there was no evidence that the incident at River Valley was linked to other locations.

On Nov 9, the authority suspended the outlet’s licence after 82 cases of food poisoning were reported by people who had consumed food from the restaurant on seven occasions between Nov 6 and 9.

Forty-seven people were hospitalised and 38-year-old Fadli Salleh, an officer from airport services and food solutions provider Sats, died on Nov 14 at the Sengkang General Hospital. He was one of more than 72 people who fell ill after eating bento boxes prepared by Spize’s River Valley outlet for an event on Nov 6. The other individuals have since recovered.

The NEA, MOH and AVA were first alerted of the cases on Nov 7, and conducted a joint inspection the same day.

WHAT WAS WRONG

The authorities found several hygiene lapses at Spize's River Valley outlet, including:

• Not providing soap for hand-washing

• Leaving ready-to-eat food uncovered in a chiller

• Slotting knives for preparing ready-to-eat food in the gaps between food preparation tables

A second inspection conducted on Nov 14 found further lapses:

• Seven unregistered food handlers were identified

• Food was prepared outside the kitchen area

• Poor personal hygiene and food preparation practices of the food handlers

What the agencies flagged from the Nov 14 investigations:

• Dried salted fish, chicken floss and fish crackers were supposed to be discarded after its licence was suspended, but that was not done

• Eggs that were meant to be discarded were dispatched to another Spize outlet for use

Laboratory investigations found Salmonella Typhimurium, a commonly-occurring bacterium, in samples taken from raw and ready-to-eat food, as well as in the environment.

The bacteria were found to be “closely related to each other by genetic analysis”, which meant that they came from the same source, the agencies said on Friday.

RECENT SPATE OF FOOD POISONING CASES

In the wake of the Spize River Valley incident, Singapore was hit by another three food poisoning cases.

• On Nov 23, 190 people fell ill after eating food prepared by TungLok Catering for the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s public exhibition at the Singapore Expo.

• On Nov 27, 131 people — including kindergarten students and teachers — were hit by gastroenteritis after consuming food prepared by FoodTalks Caterer and Manufacturer located at Shimei East Kitchen along Bedok North Street 5.

• High-end hotel Mandarin Orchard Singapore suspended operations at its Grand Ballroom on Wednesday (Dec 5) after 175 people developed symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting, and nine were hospitalised.