Total Defence food resilience exercise suspended until investigations into SOTA incident over

The Total Defence Food Resilience Preparedness Programme will be suspended until investigations into the 20 cases of food poisoning at the School of the Arts (SOTA) are concluded.

The announcement was made in a joint statement on Facebook by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), the Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Health (MOH) and SATS.

Students consumed meals as part of Total Defence commemoration activities

According to the Facebook post, the students had consumed ready-to-eat meals during this year’s Food Resilience Preparedness Programme, as part of the school's Total Defence Day commemoration activities.

The post also highlighted that 20 students, or 1 per cent of the total number of students who consumed the ready-to-eat meals, have developed gastroenteritis symptoms as of Feb. 19, 2025.

None of the students were hospitalised, and teachers are checking in on their well-being.

Meals being replaced

Meanwhile, as a precautionary measure, SOTA is collecting back the unconsumed meals that have been distributed.

SFA and MOE are also working with participating venues to put in place further precautionary measures.

This includes replacing the ready-to-eat meals produced from the same batch.

The statement noted that based on preliminary findings, this is an isolated incident at SOTA.

No incidents have been reported in other participating venues thus far.

SFA and MOE will also continue to work with participating venues to reiterate the importance of food safety.

This includes looking out for signs where the food packaging is compromised or situations where the food shows signs of deterioration, and good personal hygiene in the consumption of read-to-eat meals such as washing hands with soap thoroughly before consumption of meals.

Top photos via SFA/Facebook