FOMCA vice president calls for enforcement of stringent food safety measures

The Star

Recent deaths from food poisoning, particularly involving school children, have alarmed the public in Malaysia.  Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) vice president Datuk Indrani Thuraisingham expressed concern, and emphasised that, despite existing mandatory guidelines and regulations for canteen food operators, schools must enforce stringent measures in cases of non-compliance.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Recent deaths from food poisoning have alarmed the public in Malaysia.

00:07Two fatalities have been linked to food poisoning from a school in Sungai Cincin Gombak, Selangor.

00:12And in Kuala Pila, Negeri Sembilan, 15 students at a boarding school were hospitalized due

00:18to suspected food poisoning.

00:20Food poisoning cases are becoming increasingly common, with 51 incidents recorded per 100,000

00:26people in Malaysia in 2023, more than double the rate of 18.4 incidents in 2021.

00:34Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations Vice President Datuk Indrani Duraisingam expressed

00:40concern, particularly regarding the impact on school children.

00:44And if you see some of the global statistics, one in every ten people actually are affected

00:52by foodborne illnesses.

00:55And this is really very scary.

00:58And even statistics show that on an annual basis, more than 420,000 people actually die

01:04because of food safety risk.

01:07And it's very linked to, especially when you're talking about children, so when you talk about

01:12food vendors, you talk about food operators in schools, or those who are catering food,

01:18they have to have a very high standard in terms of food hygiene.

01:23So we actually have regulations, and we talk about regulations, it means they have to comply.

01:29It is mandatory.

01:30So why are we having these cases?

01:32Is it lack of enforcement?

01:34Is it lack of monitoring?

01:36What is happening?

01:37She emphasized that, despite existing mandatory guidelines and regulations for canteen food

01:42operators, schools must enforce stringent measures in cases of non-compliance.

01:48It's a matter of now whether compliance.

01:51So I would push for stricter penalties in terms of, if there are these kinds of instances

01:59where there's an outbreak, then they must be penalized.

02:05Their license must be either suspended or revoked.

02:08Give them one warning, two warnings, third warning, revoke.

02:13They should not be able to go and tender for any contracts.

02:17Okay, I didn't get this school, next time I go and tender another school, they should

02:21be in a blacklisted list.

02:24So from the consumer's point of view, we feel that the legislation, the enabling environment

02:32is already there.

02:34But more so now, it's more on the government agencies that have to ensure that they take

02:41a much more active role in doing surveillance, doing inspection.

02:49And also then to ensure that they actually test some of this food at random.

02:54You can't wait until somebody dies or somebody ends up in the hospital and only then you

03:00do testing of that particular food.

03:02Where is that regular testing that government has to ensure?

03:07So the agencies must work together.

03:10They have to collaborate together, cannot work in silos.

03:14Authorities, including the police, the health ministry and state health officials, have

03:18launched investigations into the recent food poisoning incidents in schools in Gombak and

03:23Kuala Pila.

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