Traders selling sugarcane drinks must keep the sugarcanes in storage containers and not leave them lying on the ground. —
NST picture by Aizuddin Saad
Deputy director Dr Wan Mansor Hamzah said it had found e.coli, coliform, staphylococcus and bacillus in kuih and other food samples taken from bazaars when it began monitoring them at the start of Ramadan.
He said the contamination had reached a level that could trigger food poisoning.
“The contamination is a sign of food handlers’ poor personal hygiene,” he said yesterday It was reported that 15 food poisoning cases, involving 550 people, had been reported nationwide since the start of Ramadan.
Dr Wan Mansor said the bacteria could be transferred to food through dirty cooking utensils and unhygienic surroundings where the food was prepared and sold.
However, he said, there were no food poisoning cases that could be linked to eating contaminated food from hawker stalls.
“If we can establish that dirty food caused food poisoning in consumers, we can take food handlers to court.” He said health officers would continue advising food handlers and hawkers of the need to maintain a high standard of hyg iene.
Director-general of Health Datuk Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman urged traders to be hy - gienic when preparing food and drinks.
In preparing sugarcane drinks, he said, traders should wash sugarcanes first, but most did not do this.
“Placing sugarcanes on the ground is not a good practice, unless traders clean them first before processing them,” Dr Hasan told the New Straits Times yesterday.
He said traders should keep sugarcanes in a storage container and not leave them in the open as they might attract flies and other pests.
He added that district health officers would advise traders on food safety and hyg iene.
“And, if required by local authorities, our officers will join their teams during inspections and enforcement checks.”
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