By Norhayati Umor
PETALING JAYA, Oct 24 — The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) has awarded 88 premises in the district with the Clean Food Premises and Toilet Awards 2019.
Its mayor Mohd Sayuthi Bakar said the award was an incentive for efforts taken by foodservice providers and public toilet cleaning companies to keep their premises clean.
He said it was also to encourage others to improve the level of cleanliness at their premises.
“This award would then increase the number of cleaner eateries and public toilets under the purview of MBPJ.
“Our aim is to acknowledge the clean eateries and toilets that fulfilled the criteria for an ‘A’ mark set by MBPJ,” he said.
Sayithu said 70 eateries out of 1,098 premises were classified as clean, while 18 out of 800 public toilets were given the same recognition.
“With this programme, we hope that unwanted risks such as food poisoning and food-related illnesses would be reduced.
“Data from the Health Ministry as of May this year had shown that there was an increase of 23.69 per cent in food poisoning, which is from 401 cases in 2018 to 496 in 2019 over the same period.
“This has to be taken seriously by all, including relevant authorities, school administrators, eatery owners, caterers, and food operators. The public should also take precautionary measures to avoid food poisoning,” he said.
Among those that won the clean eatery category include Nasi Kandar Original Penang, Nasi Kandar Nur Alif and Nasi Ayam Alif.
While the clean public toilet category was won by public toilets in SS2, Taman Jaya, and Astaka, as well as Sekolah Menengah (P) Sri Aman.
