KUALA SELANGOR, Feb 22 — The Health Ministry (MOH) is accelerating efforts to strengthen food safety control at all levels to achieve the target of less than 50 cases of food poisoning per 100,000 population by the year 2030.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, said the target encompasses the industry, public food premises and educational institutions, in line with the National Food Safety Action Plan 2024-2030 and the National Food Safety Policy 2.0.
He said to achieve this, traders need to prioritise food hygiene and safety aspects as well as ensure food sold is clean, of quality and safe to consume.
“The public is encouraged to practice the concept of 'Observe and Choose' by selecting clean premises and prioritising food quality. Consumers are also advised to practice the simple steps of 'Look, Smell, Taste' before enjoying their iftar to reduce the risk of food poisoning," he said.
He said this at the 2026 National Ramadan Bazaar and launch of the Hygiene and Food Campaign at the Ramadan Bazaar Lotus’s Kuala Selangor here yesterday.
Dzulkefly said the monitoring of safety and cleanliness at Ramadan bazaars began early this month through the cooperation of all State Health Departments (JKN) and local authorities (PBTs).
“To date, more than 200 sessions on hygiene and safe food handling have been organised, involving 77,583 stalls at 1,274 Ramadan bazaar sites nationwide.
“Inspections of food preparation premises before Ramadan also included restaurants and hotels that provide iftar buffets. A total of 426 inspections have also been conducted on ice factories, restaurants, and hotels,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said only one complaint related to the cleanliness of a Ramadan bazaar was recorded in two days of fasting through the Public Complaints Management System (SISPAA).
In another development, Dzulkefly assured that the supply of medicines is sufficient even with a slight increase in new tuberculosis (TB) cases detected nationwide.
The media yesterday reported that 596 new cases of TB were detected nationwide up to the sixth Epidemiological Week of this year (ME6/2026), bringing the total number of cases to 3,161 so far.
