Sats Singapore officer dies after eating food from Spize
Father of two young children had been warded in ICU since last week
A Sats Singapore officer died last night after eating tainted food from Spize last week.
Mr Fadli Salleh, 38, a father of two young children, was warded in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Sengkang General Hospital after the food poisoning.
It was previously reported that his lungs and kidneys had been affected.
Mr Fadli, who had been with Sats for 15 years, was deployed to Brink's Singapore and ate food catered from Spize for Deepavali celebrations at Brink's on Nov 6.
Spize catered 88 bento boxes for the event from its outlet at 409 River Valley Road.
Spize's co-owner, Mr Haresh Sabnani, told The Straits Times yesterday that a total of 221 bento sets were sent to six locations that day, but only that one location was affected.
A spokesman for Sats said it was providing support to the family during this difficult time.
The New Paper understands that staff from Sats were at the ICU to aid the family members in their affairs.
A Brink's spokesman said it was deeply saddened to hear of Mr Fadli's death.
"This is a tragic situation and we offer our heartfelt condolences to his family," he said.
"He was a loyal colleague with a strong work ethic and dedication to serving our customers and his colleagues. We will miss him."
CORONER'S CASE
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement last night that Mr Fadli's cause of death is pending as it has been classified as a coroner's case.
Its spokesman said 72 people were reported to have been affected as of last night. Thirty-six have been discharged from hospital, and the remaining nine are in stable condition.
When contacted, Mr Fadli's family declined to comment apart from thanking everyone for their kind words.
His friends and colleagues posted their condolences on social media, with Facebook user Eiss Story writing: "I was in the kitchen listening to the news. I'm lost for words..."
A joint statement by the National Environment Agency (NEA), MOH and Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) last Friday said they were notified of the cases on Nov 7 and conducted a joint investigation.
They said they were investigating several cases of gastroenteritis traced to the consumption of food prepared at the restaurant.
Several hygiene lapses were found, including leaving food uncovered in a chiller, not providing soap for hand-washing and slotting knives in the gaps of food preparation tables.
The outlet's licence will remain suspended until NEA is satisfied that the public health risks have been addressed.
NEA, AVA and MOH officers yesterday interviewed Spize's River Valley employees who worked on the day of the incident, ST reported.
Investigations are ongoing.
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