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Singaporeans love our otters so much that these smooth-coated charmers have spawned not one but two different mascots for two entirely different agencies here!
There’s Oscar, the Food Safety Otter — introduced by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) in 2002 to promote food safety habits. Oscar was chosen because the Asian otter has been observed to wash its food before eating.
While “food safety” is not something we think about much as we get about our lives, food that is not handled properly can contain harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites and chemical substances, which may lead to a wide range of harmful diseases.
And while Singapore enjoys one of the lowest food-borne disease outbreaks in the world because of our care with food safety, Oscar is there to constantly remind our young, consumers, and industry that food safety is our shared responsibility.
Besides Oscar, there is also Ottie the Otter, introduced by the People’s Association in 2016 as mascot of Project Blue WaVe, a blue movement by PA Water-Venture to encourage residents to do their part to care for the environment. Ottie the Otter joins in the effort to educate Singaporeans on how small actions can have a big impact on our environment. Ottie is also featured in an online book taking a journey up the Jurong River, by the National Parks Board.
Will there be even more mascots to emerge from our otter families in Singapore? With their boundless energy and resilient spirit, that’s otter-ly possible!
#MascotMonday #MascotMondaySG #otters #Singapore #Ottie #Oscar #foodsafety