The SATS food system implemented in HCI (and also planned to be rolled out in more secondary schools) has drawn some criticism from students, parents and external observers due to concerns over higher prices, quality issues and safety concerns since its inception.

1. There are already existing concerns about the quality pre-packaged food, particularly after the food poisoning incident at SOTA after consumption of said food form the same company (SATS). Students and parents should have the right to know what change has been made to ensure such an incident does not happen again. If not, the aforementioned worries are still relevant and justified.
2. The SATS system was done with good intent and attempted to curb the problem of insufficient hawkers, however the system was inconsistent with what was promoted such as pricing. Additionally, the SATS system is also inflexible and fails to meet the needs of some students, as seen below/
3. To add on to the previous concern, many students and parents feel that the quality of the food servings are inconsistent with the prices. Students have raised concerns about the quantity and quality of some "premium" meals which cost $4.78 to order. The standard meals (and the cheapest meals) cost $3.58 For contrast, Hwa Chong Institution's caifan stall (retired in 2025) offered a far more generous serving of food, meat and vegetables at only $2.70, which is far more affordable and filling to students. 
4. The hybrid/centralised kitchen model was implemented with the goal of reducing queueing time for students. While done with good intent, the actual amount of time saved in practice remains a cause of concern. On the first day of implementation of this system, some students actually spent more time queueing for food on the remaining operating stalls due to lack of trust and concerns in the system, which can be attributed to the aforementioned reasons.
5. Lastly, the SATS portions and customisability have also not met the needs of some students. For some students, the portion is insufficient to meet their dietary needs, or lacks certain nutrients such as protein that the students may require more. This especially affects student athletes, or even just growing teenage boys that require large amount of nutrients. As the system does not order students to order multiple servings at once or add extra nutrient sources, some students either do not have their individual dietary needs met or have to resort to purchasing food from the remaining two live stalls in the canteen, which defeats the purpose of the SATS model in the first place. 
6. To add on to the previous point, many parents have voiced concerns about the nutritional value of the SATS food servings. Whilst this may seem like an emotional, baseless sentiment, images of SATS catered food that have surfaced that are very understandably a cause for concern, as compared to previous canteen foods.

   A sample of a meal from SATS served in HCI.

7. Lastly, some closing remarks; whilst students and parents have attempted to withhold judgement prior to the actual implementation of the SATS programme , when the hybrid kitchen model was first unveiled on the first day of school, 2026, many students were thoroughly disappointed with the quality, portion, price and other issues of the SATS system. The expectations of students and parents are not unreasonable; Hwa Chong Institution is considered one of the top secondary schools in Singapore, and Hwa Chong students pay higher fees compared to their peers in the average secondary school. For context, Citizens pay $300-350 and PRs pay $1030 monthly. Given the school's prestige, many students and parents are disappointed with what they feel is a poorly thought out system that is unexpected for such a prestigious institution. Many hope that the concerns with the SATS system in HCI will be addressed adequately with thorough reforms and consideration of feedback to achieve a happy compromise. If not, the signatories of this petition will look upon favourably towards the re-establishment of the old canteen system.