Personal Injury Law

Update on the Rojak Case

By Kenneth Odza

The rojak-related outbreak in Singapore happened only on April 3, but the Singapore health officials have already issued their official report. 

The report links the illnesses to Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which in turn got into the rojak by having raw cuttlefish on an upper shelf of a refrigerator, which dripped into the gravy on the lower shelf of the refrigerator.  Needless to say, this is a poor food handling practice.  The stall remains closed and prosecution is likely. 

The question that has not been answered is why the deaths occurred.  According to the FDA, cases linked to vibrio are usually "mild or moderate" and only in rare cases even require hospitalization.  Here, there were not only significant numbers of hospitalizations, but two deaths and an apparent miscarriage.  The Singapore officials await the coroner's report on the deaths to find out why  Ordinarily, vibrio causes death (about 7 a year in the US) only when there are other medical conditions present. 

Full post as published by Food Liability Law Blog on April 15, 2009 (boomark / email).