This module has provided me much guidance with regards to essay writing. It was less daunting to start on my other essay assignments. I appreciate the process, as it is not something I would do. It definitely has been helpful in crafting an essay although I felt that the process was a little tedious. The feedback given by my peers and tutor was helpful in allowing me to see the areas I could improve on. The essay process is a valuable take away because I would not have paid much attention to my writing if not for this module. I am more aware of the mistakes I make while writing an essay now. Through the module, I found my weakness and was able to work on it. I did not structure my essay to flow and communicate my thoughts well. ES1102 has definitely not been a waste of time, it has reinforced the importance of what I usually overlook while writing essays. Other activities such as watching TED videos in class have been informative and engaging. Reading and providing feedback for my peers has helped me to be alert to the mistakes that I make in my own essays. It was interesting to read their essays because they have different ways of expressing their views and writing styles. Moving forward, skills learnt and re-emphasised during the module would help me in future writing assignments. I would also strive to improve my writing by trying to make time especially during the holidays to read more books.
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Critical Reflection 2
Take aways from this course
This module has provided me much guidance with regards to essay writing. It was less daunting to start on my other essay assignments. I appreciate the process, as it is not something I would do. It definitely has been helpful in crafting an essay although I felt that the process was a little tedious. The feedback given by my peers and tutor was helpful in allowing me to see the areas I could improve on. The essay process is a valuable take away because I would not have paid much attention to my writing if not for this module. I am more aware of the mistakes I make while writing an essay now. Through the module, I found my weakness and was able to work on it. I did not structure my essay to flow and communicate my thoughts well. ES1102 has definitely not been a waste of time, it has reinforced the importance of what I usually overlook while writing essays. Other activities such as watching TED videos in class have been informative and engaging. Reading and providing feedback for my peers has helped me to be alert to the mistakes that I make in my own essays. It was interesting to read their essays because they have different ways of expressing their views and writing styles. Moving forward, skills learnt and re-emphasised during the module would help me in future writing assignments. I would also strive to improve my writing by trying to make time especially during the holidays to read more books.
This module has provided me much guidance with regards to essay writing. It was less daunting to start on my other essay assignments. I appreciate the process, as it is not something I would do. It definitely has been helpful in crafting an essay although I felt that the process was a little tedious. The feedback given by my peers and tutor was helpful in allowing me to see the areas I could improve on. The essay process is a valuable take away because I would not have paid much attention to my writing if not for this module. I am more aware of the mistakes I make while writing an essay now. Through the module, I found my weakness and was able to work on it. I did not structure my essay to flow and communicate my thoughts well. ES1102 has definitely not been a waste of time, it has reinforced the importance of what I usually overlook while writing essays. Other activities such as watching TED videos in class have been informative and engaging. Reading and providing feedback for my peers has helped me to be alert to the mistakes that I make in my own essays. It was interesting to read their essays because they have different ways of expressing their views and writing styles. Moving forward, skills learnt and re-emphasised during the module would help me in future writing assignments. I would also strive to improve my writing by trying to make time especially during the holidays to read more books.
Sunday, 3 November 2013
Draft #4
In 2007, frozen meat and vegetable dumplings imported from China contained pesticide causing food poisoning in Japan (Chanda, 2013) and in the next year, melamine contaminated milk products took the lives of at least 6 children and caused 300,000 children to fall ill in china (Branigan, 2009). Melamine had been deliberately added into the milk to boost its protein in order to pass nutritional tests. Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong made a move to ban and recall Chinese dairy products in 2008 (Klamann, 2008). Globalized trade has enabled an increase in the variety of food products available for consumption. At the same time, there is a growing risk of tainted food imported from one country to another.
Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). (2013). Requirements to
Singapore imports over 90% of food products as it has a limited land resources (Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, 2013). The over reliance on imported food products exposes Singaporeans to a higher risk of being susceptible to food scandals (Tan, 2013). Singapore has to be alert in ensuring that imports are safe for consumption as tainted food can bring about health problems and severe socio-economic consequences. With the rise in food scandals occurring around Singapore, the Singapore government has to continue to be vigilant and ensure that regulations are secure to protect consumers from being affected by contaminated food from global sources. Two ways in which the government can do so is to work with international food safety authorities and continue to be strict with requirements for imported food.
Products that are harmful will continuously arise as producers utilize cheap chemicals to fulfill requirements and find ways to reduce costs and maximize profits. Also, unprecedented animal epidemics such as the mad cow disease need to be guarded against. Diseases can be transmitted when a person consumes infected animal meat.
Products that are harmful will continuously arise as producers utilize cheap chemicals to fulfill requirements and find ways to reduce costs and maximize profits. Also, unprecedented animal epidemics such as the mad cow disease need to be guarded against. Diseases can be transmitted when a person consumes infected animal meat.
Currently, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has strict requirements for imported and locally manufactured food to comply with. The import of meat and meat products are authorized only from approved sources. Imports must have a health certificate provided by a veterinary authority of the country of origin to certify that Singapore's animal health and food safety requirements are met (AVA, 2013). Imports with high risks are required to be sent for testing to certify the safety of the imported food (Singapore customs, 2013). The government gives out food safety excellence and food safety partners’ awards to encourage the food industry to guarantee the safety of food provided commitment.
As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. The government agency AVA should also work closely with food safety authorities internationally to share information and work on protecting the health of consumers. This way, when a certain food is found to be affecting the health of consumers, the food safety authority of that country will pass information regarding the food scandal on to the food safety authorities in other countries immediately to prevent the problem from escalating.
As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. The government agency AVA should also work closely with food safety authorities internationally to share information and work on protecting the health of consumers. This way, when a certain food is found to be affecting the health of consumers, the food safety authority of that country will pass information regarding the food scandal on to the food safety authorities in other countries immediately to prevent the problem from escalating.
Furthermore, Singapore should not take the zero incident rate for granted. The AVA government agency should not slack in the strict requirements they have. The testing methods for detecting contaminants should be constantly upgraded to identify uncommon contaminants. Employees must be well taken care of so as to prevent them from taking bribes to let imported food that do not meet requirements come into Singapore.
In preventing contaminated food from being consumed, consumers should be protected from harm. Consumers distrust arising from unethical selling of tainted food would not exist and they would not have to be wary about the food they have purchased.
References
Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore. (2013). Singapore's
food supply.
Retrieved October 20, 2013, from http://www.ava.gov.sg/Singapore+Food+Supply.htm
Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). (2013). Requirements to
Import, Export and Transship Food. Retrieved October 12, 2013, from http://www.ava.gov.sg/AVA/Templates/AVA-GenericContentTemplate.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7b2BA0A4AA-05D8-4E3C-A8F9-60F26F90EA76%7d&NRORIGINALURL=%2fFoodSector%2fImportExportTransOfFood%2fReqToImportExportTransshipFood%2f&NRCACHEHINT=Guest#begin
Branigan, T. (2009, November 24). China executes two for tainted milk scandal.
theguardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/24/china-executes-milk-scandal-pair
Chanda, N. (2013, April 4). One man’s meat is another man’s poison. YaleGlobal
online. Retrieved from http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/one-man’s-meat-another-man’s-poison
Klamann, E. (2008, September 20). China Orders recalls as milk scandal widens.
Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/09/20/us-china-milk-idUSSHA8903920080920
Singapore customs.(2013). Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (Processed Food).
Retrieved October 10, 2013,from http://www.customs.gov.sg/leftNav/trad/TradeNet/Agri-Food+and+Veterinary+Authority+(Processed+Food).htm
Tan, P.H. (2013, July 19). Opening remarks by Ms Tan Po Hong, chief executive
officer, agri-food and veterinary authority of Singapore, at AVA’s food safety awards night on 19 July 2013. Retrieved October 10,2013, from http://www.ava.gov.sg/NR/rdonlyres/9253E7B2-E57D-4992-982C-1304E73748D6/26395/CEOsSpeechforFoodSafetyAwardsNight13_Final.pdf
Friday, 1 November 2013
Critical Reflection
In the past, my essays would lack organisational structure and my
thoughts were all over the place. I rarely had to write essays, as my course in
Polytechnic only required me to write business reports, which are unlike
academic essays. I was not confident of writing the essay and was quite
apprehensive about it. Initially, I did not know where to start and how I was
going to proceed on with my essay even though I had some ideas. By learning how
to prepare my thesis and revolve my essay around my thesis, I had an easier
time starting on the essay. The process leading up to the essay proper was
very helpful for me. The summary of globalization allowed me to grasp the
topic and understand what this phenomenon was. The reader's response
segment was something new to me and I struggled to put it together in the
beginning. After the exercise ended, I have learnt much on how to formulate a
reader's response with comments provided by the tutor. I also learnt how to put
my opinion into writing and substantiate it with findings from academic
writings. Advice and feedback from my peers and tutor
was very useful as they also saw that my thoughts did not flow and were not
cohesive. This whole experience made me realize how much I still have to work
on and has motivated me to not stop learning but to continue improving on my
writing skills. Recently, I had to write a few essays for other modules and I found it easier to start on them. With more practice, I believe my writing skills would improve.
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