TAWAU: Teachers of a primary school at Pasir Putih here will examine all milk supplied to them to determine the expiry date before distributing them to the pupils.
Assistant headmistress Madam Lim said they would discard milk that had expired, including those near their expiry date, adding that milk that had about seven days’ shelf life would be distributed immediately and sometimes they gave away several packets of milk to the each pupil.
“We hope the pupils could drink the milk before the expiry date. As we know, the milk sold in the market has a short shelf life and cannot be kept for two years,” she said, yesterday.
According to her, distributors should understand the situation and should never distribute milk that are near their expiry date.
Lim said it was a waste to throw away the milk, adding that no report of ill health caused by milk had been reported so far.
She also disclosed that many schools here, including her school, had received smaller sized school uniforms and shoes from Yayasan Sabah. The schools would just distribute the uniforms and shoes to the pupils but they could not wear them.
Lim was responding to the call from the Tawau Municipal Council (TMC) to the Education Department to monitor the dry food and milk supplied to schools in the district and take stern action against suppliers if the products sold to students are found to be close to expiry.
TMC president Ismail Mayakob said they had received complaints from parents about food and milk products sold to students were near expiry date.
A headmistress from another primary school in town, who declined to be named, said her school does not face such a problem. She said this situation normally occurred in the rural schools.
The Tawau Education Department could not comment on this matter as they have no authority to do so except the Sabah education director.