MCC stresses on food sanitation, hygiene among food operators

MIRI: Miri City Council (MCC) aims to continue creating awareness of food sanitation and hygiene among food operators through the Food Operators’ Awareness programme, in the effort to promote healthy living and to encourage healthy food consumption among the local communities.

When chairing the monthly full council meeting yesterday, mayor Adam Yii said creating food operators’ awareness is part of the council’s on-going effort to educate the public on healthy eating.

“To ensure no negligence in food handling and preparation, the public health task force will be observing and requesting all food operators to maintain high level of cleanliness of their premises.

“MCC is requesting all food eatery operators to pay attention to the following requirements – ensuring all eating utensils are sanitised in hot water before they are used by customers; prohibit the usage of styrofoam container for food packaging and to not re-use used cooking oil.

“The containers used to hold hot water should be made of metal or porcelain, and plastic container is not allowed. The use of biodegradable paper for food container is highly encouraged. As reminder, MCC has prohibited the use of styrofoam food packaging since Aug 25, 2017 and it is still in force,” said Yii.

Meanwhile, the prohibition against reusing used cooking oil, he explained, is to remind of the risks and effects of high-fat food intakes and deep frying method of food preparation by food operators.

“The council will impose a condition stating that deteriorated cooking oil shall not be recycled for further cooking as one of the licensing (renewal) conditions. The used cooking oil must be properly disposed of, through a licensed used cooking oil collector/recycling company. The proof of proper disposal shall be produced for verification upon request from Public Health officers. In order to safeguard consumers’ health, MCC will fix a limit for Total Polar Compounds (TPC) in edible oil at 25 per cent, and the cooking oil exceeding the TPC percentage shall not be used,” said Yii.

Total Polar Compounds (TPC) refers to all products (compounds) present in frying oil due to oxidation processes (frying) including free fatty acids, products of low molecular weight decomposition, and polymerised substances.

TPC has been used globally as one of the indicators of frying oil quality, and many health authorities worldwide have adopted a value of 25 to 27 per cent as their acceptable upper limit for fats and oils quality.