Friends of Sats officer who died after eating tainted food: 'He did not deserve to die like this'

Mr Mohamad Fadli Mohd Saleh, who died after consuming tainted food, was described as friendly, humble and respected as relatives, friends and colleagues bade him an emotional final farewell yesterday.

They had earlier gathered at his Punggol flat to pay their respects to him and his grieving family.

The 38-year-old Sats Singapore officer died in the intensive care unit of Sengkang General Hospital on Wednesday evening .

He was among 81 people who became ill after eating food catered from Spize's River Valley Road outlet during a Deepavali celebration at security firm Brink's Singapore on Nov 6.

Mr Fadli, who had been with Sats for 15 years, was deployed to Brink's.

He was laid to rest at Pusara Abadi Muslim Cemetery in Lim Chu Kang in the late afternoon.

He leaves behind his wife, who is also a Sats officer, and two young children.

A group of Sats officers who had been close to Mr Fadli told The New Paper that he was a nice and humble man whom they respected.

One of them added: "He did not deserve to die like this."

One of his former colleagues who was also at the burial called Mr Fadli a good friend.

"He was a fan of football. We would play football together most weekends," he added.

A freelance trainer, 44, who used to be Mr Fadli's neighbour, said: "He was friendly and would always start a conversation when he saw me in the corridor. Once we chatted non-stop in the lift until we missed our floor."

A secondary school friend said: "Though we lost contact since secondary school, I just had to come for his burial because he was a good man."

One of Mr Fadli's relatives told Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao yesterday that his family would never forgive Spize.

Spize co-owner Haresh Sabnani told The Straits Times that Spize staff were "extremely saddened" and sent their condolences to his widow and family.

The number of people affected hit 81 yesterday after another nine reported falling ill from eating food from Spize.

A Ministry of Health (MOH) spokesman said nine people remained in hospital in stable condition and 37 had been discharged, as of 5pm yesterday.

Spize had catered 88 bento boxes for the Brink's event at its Kaki Bukit premises.

Mr Haresh had previously said that 221 bento sets were delivered to six locations on Nov 6, but all the cases of food poisoning had occurred at Brink's.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has suspended Spize's River Valley outlet until further notice, pending investigations. Cleaning and sanitation works are also being carried out at the outlet.

A joint statement by the NEA, MOH and Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) last Friday said they were investigating several cases of gastroenteritis traced to the consumption of food prepared at the restaurant.

LAPSES

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.

Mr Haresh said Spize was taking all measures necessary to cooperate with the investigations.

The last major food poisoning case was in 2009 when two women died and about 150 others fell ill after eating Indian rojak at a stall in Geylang Serai.

Stall owner Sheik Allaudin Mohideen was eventually fined $9,000 and lost his licence.