Hygiene: Sellers, buyers ‘equally responsible’
smoke or sneeze in front of their food or drinks. They should also avoid spitting everywhere, while preparing food and drinks.
“They also need to frequently wash their hands with soap each time after they go to the toilet, carry the garbage or do other related activities, whilst preparing their food.
“It is also important to remind the sellers to ensure the source of their water is safe to make drinks,” he said, adding that these aspects were important to avoid food poisoning and other illnesses caused by the contaminated food.
For visitors or buyers at Ramadan bazaar, Dr Mohd Zaki said that they should be careful in choosing the food they intended to buy by considering their hygienic value.
“They should choose food that is still hot or newly cooked and they should avoid keeping the newly bought food to be eaten during the pre-dawn meal (sahur) as most of the foods are cooked at around noon.
“Other food that has been cooked earlier or before the bazaar started, they can still warm the food before eating,” he advised and added that Muslims who were fasting should avoid overeating during the breaking of fast hour, while consuming the dates first before taking other meals and to avoid taking spicy foods.
Meanwhile, Dr Mohd Zaki said that the walkaround program at Ramadan bazaar was their department’s annual program with the cooperation of Labuan Corporation where all the stalls operating at the bazaars here were visited by them for inspection and awareness purposes.
“We visited some Ramadan bazaars here including at Jalan Mawar, Labuan Walk, Durian Tunjung, taxi terminal of Labuan Central Market and at other bazaars located outside the town area,” he said, adding that some 16 enforcement officers were involved in the program.
He disclosed that some samples of the food had been taken for the food quality and safety test.
Stall operators who failed to adhere to the Food Act 1983 would be fined up to RM100,000 if they sold food that could harm the consumers’ health, he said.
Dr Mohd Zaki recalled that during their operation last year, some 169 stalls had been checked and some 14 samples taken for laboratory tests.
“Eight out of 14 food samples taken and tested were found to contained elements that could endanger one’s health.
“In the same operation, only 275 out of 435 of the stall operators had taken their typhoid vaccine injection,” he said.
Also present during the program were Labuan member of parliament Datuk Rozman Isli and the deputy director (Food Quality and Safety Unit) of Labuan Health Department, Sunmuglvadivu Elumalai.