UPSET: Mr Allaudin, owner of Rojak Geylang Serai.
Rojak Food Poisoning
STUNNED: He couldn’t believe that more than a hundred people fell ill after eating his rojak
SCARED: He started throwing food away because he was scared
SORRY: I didn’t go to funeral, but I want to apologise to victim’s family
Singapore, April 9, 2009 - He was at his stall with his two sons, preparing food for the day’s business, last Saturday.
Two men then went up to Mr Sheik Allaudin, the owner of Rojak Geylang Serai, and shouted at him.
Mr Allaudin, 69, sitting outside his four-room Eunos flat last night, said: “They looked very angry and were pointing their fingers at me.
"They shouted at me in Malay, ‘It’s all because of you that my family is now in hospital." It was about 7am and he said that was his first inkling that something was wrong.
He said: “I was shocked and got scared as I didn’t know what had happened.”
Complained
He was preparing the food and cooking the gravy for his Indian rojak at that time.
He panicked and carried the pot to the rubbish bin and began to empty its contents into it.
In his first media interview since the food poisoning outbreak at the temporary Geylang Serai market, he said: “I did that because I was scared.
“Customers had complained so there must be something wrong with my food.”
Just as he was throwing the food away, eight officers from the National Environment Agency (NEA) arrived at the stall and asked him why he was doing that.
He replied that two customers had complained to him earlier.
He said: “That was when they told me that more than a hundred people had fallen ill after eating my rojak.
“I was stunned. I could not believe it.”
So far, 137 cases of food poisoning have been reported to the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Thirty-seven people were hospitalised while the rest were given outpatient treatment at hospitals and clinics.
The victims fell ill between last Thursday and Saturday.
One woman, Madam Aminah Samijo, 57, a canteen assistant, fell into a coma and died on Monday. She was buried yesterday.
Another woman, Madam Noraini Kasim, 59, remains in a coma in the intensive care unit at Alexandra Hospital.
MOH said that the last time a person died of food poisoning was in 2007, due to salmonella enteritidis, a common food-borne pathogen.
Mr Allaudin said he had opened his rojak stall 27 years ago.
His two sons help him at the stall and they prepare the food themselves every day. They employ a worker to help serve the customers.
He said that the past few days have been a blur. He could not sleep well and was very worried.
“I found out from the newspapers that a regular customer of mine had died after eating my rojak,” he said, tears welling up.
“A life has been lost. My licence may be revoked and I may be charged.
“But I’m willing to face the consequences.”
He added that he had not visited Madam Aminah’s family as they may not be ready to face him.
Madam Aminah, 57, and her husband, Mr Omar Ali, 56, ate at his stall last Friday afternoon.
Said Mr Allaudin: “I know her funeral is today (Tuesday) but I didn’t go. The family won’t understand how I feel now. But I want to apologise to them.
“I really don’t know how this could have happened.”
Lost and worried
He said that he always throws away all the leftovers at the end of the day.
He and his sons prepare the food at 4am every business day and close the stall on Mondays.
He added: “I didn’t offend anyone recently. And I don’t think it’s a case of sabotage.”
After the incident, he has been told by the authorities to close his stall for the time being.
He said that his daily earnings is about $1,500.
But he still went down to the market on Monday and yesterday because he was worried.
He said: “I sat there and stared into space. I’m not avoiding anyone or the problem.”
Stallholders at the temporary market appeared to be protective of each another.
Some of them had denied seeing Mr Allaudin when The New Paper was at the market on Monday.
But yesterday, one of them, Madam Lia, 42, admitted that they had lied.
“He was here on Monday, same time as you, but you didn’t know. All the other reporters also didn’t know,” she said.
She added that Mr Allaudin chatted with stallholders for a while when he arrived around lunchtime.
“He said he doesn’t know how it (the food poisoning) happened.
“He was still smiling when he spoke to us. He’s usually smiling whenever we see him, but we really don’t know how he’s feeling inside.”
Mr Allaudin lives with his wife, two sons, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren in his Eunos flat.
Shortly after the interview, he said that he had been contacted by the police and that he was going to Bedok Police Division to give his statement.
He said that he, his sons and his worker had already gone for screening for food-borne pathogens at the Communicable Disease Centre, as advised by MOH.
But he does not know the results.
“It’s purely an accident. I hope my customers will get well soon,” he said.
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