SINGAPOREANS' standards of personal hygiene leave much to be desired, if the results of an AC Nielsen survey commissioned by homecare-product manufacturer Unilever are to be believed.
The results of the survey conducted last year are timely, in the light of the most serious food-poisoning case here in recent years, where one woman has died and over 100 fell ill after eating rojak from a Geylang Serai stall.
The survey found that two in five Singaporeans do not wash their hands with soap.
It also revealed that three out of 10 do not wash their hands with soap before meals.
Mr Patrick Chew, 19, a polytechnic student told my paper: "I don't wash my hands before I eat. I don't see a need to do so because I use the cutlery provided at food stalls and restaurants."
Dr Helen Tan, 45, fromMedicare Family Clinic, said there is still a risk.
"Even if you use cutlery, there's always a chance of you touching your mouth or face when you clean yourself after you eat. So, if your hands are dirty, you are immediately transferring germs to those places," she said.
Ms Carolyn Tan, 29, assistant brand manager of Unilever Singapore, said: "Washing your hands with soap reduces the risk of contracting diseases and it also prevents you from transferring diseases to other people."
She added: "The critical moments for hand-washing are before and after cooking, because contact-transmissible diseases spread fastest through contact between hands and food."
She said it is especially important for young children to be more aware of personal hygiene.
"They...may not be careful about what they touch and this makes them highly prone to catching germs," she said, adding that Lifebuoy, a brand of body wash marketed by Unilever, is organising a series of talks on hygiene at 30 primary schools here.
"Hand-washing is touted as the best preventive measure available...falling ill less frequently also means lower medical bills," said Ms Tan.
Hygiene has become a hotbutton issue on online forums and blogs following the rojak food-poisoning incident.
On the forum Makansutra's Food For Talk section, netizen mothball said: "I see so many owners employing untrained staff who are very unhygienic.
"They have dirty nails and bad habits like touching their face or hair while preparing food, or picking their noses and scratching funny places."
Others wondered if Singaporeans are susceptible to food poisoning because they have got used to high levels of food hygiene.
Dr Tan Seow Hwee, a medical director for the accident and emergency department at Gleneagles Hospital, rejected the notion.
"Everyone is susceptible to food poisoning," he says. "The problem lies in the preparation of food, because if one doesn't follow the necessary hygiene measures, food poisoning will most likely occur."
