A group of children became ill on Friday, February 1, started to vomit and showed signs of diarrhoea, after consuming food prepared by a caterer in PCF Sparkletots at Block 45 Toa Payoh pre-school.
After the incident the PCF's manager of corporate affairs, Samuel Ng said that a group of 40 pupils were served the same food for lunch from about 11.15 am on Friday. 14 out of those children, aged between three and six, suddenly started to vomit and showed signs of diarrhoea at around 3.30 pm.
He also added that among them two children had food poisoning, while another one was affected by the "suspected food poisoning." There were three more children, who were diagnosed with stomach flu.
But he confirmed that as of now, none of these children was taken to the hospital. However, there are eight affected children but authority doesn't know their condition.
As per Ng, the centre started to order catering food for lunch since last year November, after the resignation of their in-house cook.
He also said that PCF will be in close contacts with the parents of those affected children and will monitor the situation. Ng also added that the matter has been reported to the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) and Ministry of Health (MOH).
On Sunday, a spokesman from the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said that AVA, as well as MOH, have started the investigation of the outbreak of gastroenteritis at the pre-school.
Last year in November, 131 people, including kindergarten pupils and teachers at kid's camp fell ill due to the consumption of food prepared by FoodTalks Caterer and Manufacturer. Later, National Environment Agency (NEA), MOH and AVA said in a joint statement that that they are investigating the case an outbreak of gastroenteritis "traced to the consumption of food" prepared by the the caterer.
