BUTTERWORTH – The Penang Health Department has ordered two food processing plants operating under unhygienic conditions to be closed for a fortnight following an Op Bersih raid carried out today.
The premises, a soybean processing factory in Tasek Gelugor and a belacan (shrimp paste) factory in Butterworth, were also given seven compound notices amounting to RM12,000.
Mohd Wazir Khalid, the department’s environmental health officer under its Food Safety and Quality Division, said they found rat droppings in the food storage area of the soybean processing factory.
Apart from that, they also saw food being placed on the dirty floor of the same plant, which was the target of the first raid, he said.
“The premises was raided two months ago, but we did not take any action and only gave advice.
“But this time, the premises had to be given a compound and closure order for two weeks according to Section 11 of the Food Act 1983,” he said after the operation ended.
The second raid took place at the shrimp paste factory after the department obtained information that it had been running illegally since almost six years ago.
Wazir said it had been operating clandestinely behind an agarwood factory owned by a family.
He added the belacan factory is believed to use a “traditional method” of levelling the paste using a hoe while stepping on it. It is also believed that this was done by staff wearing slippers.
“Besides that, we also found that the shrimp paste factory used fake packaging information, where the factory address on the package was not the same as the real address,” he said.
He added that the manufacturer was also supplying the paste to other businesses to package the product under their brand names.
“The owner of the premises failed to show proof to authenticate the halal logo on the belacan package. The owner gave the reason that the package with the halal logo is just a sample of the product.”
Wazir said all the soy and belacan products were believed to be for the local market. The department feared that the items would affect the health of consumers.
The operation involved 15 state Health Department staff and 12 local authority staff from the Seberang Perai City Council’s licensing division. – The Vibes, October 20, 2021
