Time to monitor tamu food, beverages
DURING the recent Ramadan month, a news story came out in this paper about the Keningau bazaar near the Giant supermarket being closed down by the Department of Health after the area was found to be dirty.
The closure was to take effect for two weeks, from the June 16 to 30, to enable cleaning and disinfection to be carried out so that the premises would be free of infectious diseases.
Yazid Mohd Hasnan Tawik, Keningau Umno division committee member, agreed with the closer due to the health hazard, noting that most of the food items sold were not covered and so could be contaminated by flies or dust. However he felt sorry for the vendors who lost business since they were trying to earn incomes to be utilized for the then coming Hari Raya celebration.
But it was most noteworthy that the department expressed the unprecedented intention to monitor the houses of tamu food vendors to ensure they are processing foods and drinks in hygienic ways and in clean environments.
Yazid said the foods and beverages were prepared and brought from home and “this should also be inspected at the operators' residences.
I feel this intention should be implemented throughout Sabah due to its urgency, knowing so many people have become sick, vomiting and having diarrhea, while others have died from the much dreaded leptospirosis – a disease caused by infection with corkscrew-shaped bacteria called leptospira which is most commonly found in urine of rats.
This need for cleanliness in preparing food reminds me of an admonishing I had from a very close friend when I bought a sidewalk home-made cake in Manila many years ago. He said I should avoid buying food from sidewalk vendors because they can be really dirty and dangerous.
“But they are all boiled, so all the germs have been killed,” I said, confident in knowledge of health I learned in primary school.
“But you don't know what kind of water they use!” he snapped back. That registered quite a shock. Then all kinds of horrible images of dirty water being used for processing food came to mind. Yes, of course boiling kill germs but it wouldn't kill harmful and deadly chemicals!
I still cringe at the memory of watching a documentary about life in a squatter area in the capital city of a neighbouring country, in which it was shown how a woman dipped in dirty, green and stagnant water from under the house.
We had a church group who went to another neighbouring country where they learned a lesson about lack of cleanliness of sidewalk foodstalls.
They were about to patronize such a premises which looked quite decent, but on approaching it, they saw someone in the stall washing the dishes in the water flowing down from a drain!
There is such a thing as differing food cleanliness standard between countries! In one south Asian country, the lifestyle is so dirty among the poorest segment of the society that if described, it would cause one to lose appetite for a very, very long time!
We are still fortunate that our Sabah society is still considered very clean compared to the countries ravaged by rampant poverty. However, we must never assume the best from our food vendors. In fact the tamu foods we have today are far from being totally clean.
A perfect example is the case of homemade drinks of many varieties sold at tamus all over Sabah . Sold from RM1.00 to RM3.50 per plastic glass with straw, these drinks, as far as I know, are all made with raw (unboiled) tape water and made to look appetizing with artificial colouring and ice cubes!
That, of course, doesn't necessarily make them dirty or unhygienic since the water department has a long time ago assured us that our tap water is good enough to be drank raw.
However, that assurance from the Water Department is not very convincing, knowing that our tap water has a funny way of turning into milo colour occasionally and the filtering bars of our water purifiers turn to brown or black so soon after installation.
Go check your water tank in the house; after some years of use, a few inches of mud would have settled at the bottom of the tank!
The Health Department might want to sit down and discuss the possibility of banning the sale of these homemade drinks in tamus.
One rationale for such a move, other than the highly questionable cleanliness of the water used, is the fact that in many cases they are more expensive than the manufactured soda or non-soda drinks in sterilized boxes or cans.
The manufactured mineral or drinking water are regularly monitored for purity by the authorities, but when did we ever hear of tamu home-made drinks being checked for cleanliness?
The authorities too must look into working closely with the local authorities to enforce without compromise the cleanliness and hygienic qualities of homemade food and beverages processing.
Wherever the tamu ground is dirty -- muddy, dusty, smelly and/or infested with flies -- no homemade drinks and kueh must ever be allowed to be sold. As a popular tourism destination in the region, competing in a fast-moving world, Sabah must upgrade its image and be a few steps ahead of the expectations of international visitors.