Give priority to cleanliness, hygiene and food safety, traders urged
SIBU: The State Health Department is monitoring traders in Ramadan bazaars across the state to ensure they produce clean food that is safe for consumption.
According to state health director Dr Jamilah Hashim, food need to be handled in a hygienic and safe manner as stipulated under the local authorities’ pre-conditions to bazaar traders.
She said this included food on display to prevent them getting contaminated.
“Monitoring is being carried out not only on a daily basis in each Ramadan bazaar. Sampling will be carried out as and when necessary,” Dr Jamilah told thesundaypost on Friday.
She noted that all bazaar traders are under the supervision of local authorities and generally adhere to conditions imposed by the local authorities.
“All traders need to comply with the requirement to produce food that is clean and safe for consumption as indicated in the licence’s pre-conditions,” Dr Jamilah added.
She was asked if the Health Department was carrying out checks at Ramadan bazaars in the state to ensure good hygiene and cleanliness in preparing food.
Separately, elsewhere at Bandong Road here, the coordinator of Bandong Walk, Mohamad Safree Mohamad Kassim said traders there had been instructed to ensure high standard of hygiene and cleanliness.
Mohamad Safree said traders had attended the food handling course where they were taught to keep their stalls spick and span after trading. It was noticed that food, including cakes, were covered to keep out flies.
A hawker at Bandong Walk, Haris Seruji, 62, stressed that hygiene and cleanliness are most important to attract consumers.
“If food is not covered, with flies hovering around, customers will think twice about buying from us,” he said.
Haris who has been in the food business for over 10 years, said he purchased the containers to keep his food.
“I will only open the lid when customers want to buy and after that, close it again to keep out flies,” he added.
He revealed that he cooked over 30 kinds of dishes a day.
Advocating food safety, he will not keep the leftovers to be sold the next day.
“All my food here are freshly prepared and if I cannot finish selling them, I will donate them to prevent wastage. The next day, I prepare fresh food,” Haris said.