With the National Environment Agency's ban on the serving of raw freshwater fish, it may make good business sense for eateries to replace the raw fish in yusheng for the coming Chinese New Year with other ingredients ("NEA bans serving of raw freshwater fish at all eateries"; Dec 6).

The raw fish could, perhaps, be replaced with vegetarian mock fish or other fish-related products like deep-fried ikan bilis, fish floss or fish luncheon meat, not to mention abalone.

Any traditional practice can and must be changed for the sake of safety, which is paramount. One example is the banning of firecrackers decades ago.

Ng Chee Kheon