PRIMADELI'S food-poisoning scare, which caused the shutdown of its bakery and 39 outlets islandwide since Dec 5, has shaken the industry and prompted other cake makers to tighten their cleanliness checks.
The fiasco could not have come at a worse time for Prima because it is missing out on the most lucrative season of the year.
Those in the business say the cake and pastries industry is worth $400 million annually and, with about 10 per cent share of the pie, PrimaDeli would have raked in anything between $1 million and $2 million or more at Christmas time.
But what hit home with the others is knowing that PrimaDeli's fate might have befallen any of them.
The bakery and outlets were shut after 203 people fell ill with salmonella poisoning after eating its cakes. Six bakery workers and two food handlers from its outlets tested positive for salmonella enteriditis.
Bengawan Solo's business development director Henry Liew said the company has upped the frequency of sending cake samples to its regular laboratory for microbiological testing to ensure the quality is tip-top.
But the scare has not hurt business, which is even better than last year, he said. The biggest player with 41 outlets here, Bengawan Solo expects to sell more than 20,000 Christmas cakes in just two weeks.
Another heavyweight in the industry, Polar Puffs & Cakes, is conducting more frequent hygiene checks on staff, according to group general manager Timothy Chan.
The owner of the Awfully Chocolate cake shops, Ms Lyn Lee, said the company was concerned because it makes only chocolate cake - the PrimaDeli product involved in the food scare.
'We were worried that everyone would be afraid of buying chocolate cake this year,' she said. But sales are up significantly over last year, she added.
The PrimaDeli fiasco also hit home at the Bakerzin chain. Founder and chief executive Daniel Tay, who estimated that the company would lose about $700,000 if it had to shut down for three weeks at this time, said 'there were definitely more checks'.
PrimaDeli, Bengawan Solo, Polar and BreadTalk are considered the industry's big boys, going by the number of outlets they have. Industry watchers say the scope of the closure, involving all PrimaDeli outlets, makes this Singapore's biggest food-scare shutdown.
Industry insiders estimated that Prima's losses for the festive season could be between $1.2 million and $1.8 million. A Prima spokesman said it was 'unable to ascertain the total loss yet'.
But the company has cleared the first hurdle on its road to recovery.
Microbiological swabs taken on Monday at its factory's table tops, utensils, racks and trays have tested negative for salmonella, and satisfactorily for hygiene.
This means that Prima Food has been effective and thorough in its cleaning and sanitation process, said a spokesman for the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority.
It is currently reviewing how Prima handles, stores and processes its food - the second hurdle that it has to overcome before it gets the green light to resume business.
