James and City Hall Cleanliness and Environmental Health Department assistant environmental health officer Denis John advising one of the food operators at Asia City Ramadan bazaar on cleanliness measures yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: Ramadan bazaar operators must ensure their food is safe for consumption, or risk being fined up to RM20,000 under Section 13 (B) of the Food Act 1983.
City environmental health officer James Philip Suladi, who led a team of 60 officers and personnel from his office and City Hall to carry out an inspection at the Asia City Ramadan bazaar here yesterday, said it was important for food operators to ptactise the cleanliness culture.
“Apart from ensuring their food is safe for consumption, they must also practise good hygiene. It is preferable if they wear aprons and cover their hair when handling food, or when they are selling.
“It is the same as waking up in the morning when you shower and brush your teeth before leaving for work or school; the same goes when handling food, everything must be clean.
“If we find or receive any complaints from the public, samples of food will be taken from the stall to determine whether it is safe or otherwise. If it is found contaminated, the operators will be charged and fined,” he said.
He said leaflets and brochures on food handling had been distributed to all stall operators.
“The last thing we need is customers getting sick after consuming the food here.
“However, coming to the second day of the Ramadan month, I am satisfied with the cleanliness. Today, we only took a few samples but that is just for observation purposes,” he said.
James added similar operations would be carried out at other Ramadan bazaars in the city.
There are 11 bazaars around the city, including Inanam, Menggatal and Telipok.