Only 124 eateries recognised as clean, safe, healthy
KOTA KINABALU: Only 124 food premises in Sabah have been accorded recognition as clean, safe and healthy under the BeSS scheme introduced by the Health Ministry since 2012.
This shows that the number of BeSS recognised eateries, especially among restaurants and food stalls, is still very low, said Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor.
BeSS, which stands for the Clean, Safe and Healthy recognition scheme, is awarded to eateries that comply with the criteria that have been set for the recognition.
The scheme is aimed at according recognition for those food outlets that constantly care about the cleanliness level of their eateries and the safety of the food they serve is at the optimum level.
The outlets must also be seen to promote good eating habits at their premises.
Up to September this year, only 69 school canteens and school hostel kitchens, as well as 25 canteens at health facilities, 12 restaurants and 18 food stalls have been given the BeSS recognition, he said.
Hajiji also mentioned that last year, checks were conducted at 11,412 eateries in Sabah. Out of the total, 521 or 4.5 percent were ordered to shut down.
And from January to July this year, about 120 or 1.1 percent of food eateries were ordered shut out of the total of 10,806 food premises that were checked.
“The Sabah Health Department, under its Food Safety and Quality Section programme, always emphasises on the level of cleanliness of all food premises throughout Sabah and conducts checks on a routine basis through its Clean Food Premises Operation,” he said, at the award presentation ceremony for the State Level Clean, Safe and Healthy Medan Selera 2017.
Meanwhile, Sabah Health director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi said the BeSS recognition was a free certification offered to food premises operators.
“The recognition emphasises that food prepared in a clean, safe and healthy way has huge impact on the life of individuals,” she said.
Dr Christina said the Malaysian Health Ministry has introduced various certification and recognition to help food operators raise their level of adherence to food legislations/requirements.
These include the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point certification, Good Manufacturing Practice certification, Safe Food the Responsibility of Industries certification (MeSTI), BeSS certification and the latest, the Authentic Food certification and Food Defense certification.
In the case of Sabah, only 26 factories have attained the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification; 40 factories have attained the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification; and 216 factories have attained the MeSTI certification.
She said Sabah’s achievement in this regard was still very low.
At the award presentation yesterday, Tuaran Medan Selera was selected as the winner in the local government Medan Selera category. In second place was Medan Selera Grace Point and third place was Medan Selera Anjung Senja owned by Sedcovest Holdings Sdn Bhd, while the consolation prize went to Medan Selera Kota Kinabatangan, which is owned by the Kinabatangan District Council.
The Medan Selera Giant food court in Keningau was selected as the champion in the private sector category, followed by the Medan Selera Futsal Sandakan, owned by the Sandakan Municipal Council, and Medan Selera Imago Food Street, owned by Asian Pac Property Management Sdn Bhd, which came in second and third places, respectively.