A 50-year-old fishball factory in Kepala Batas, Penang has been ordered shut for severely violating health and safety regulations
Bernama reported that the Penang Health Department conducted a raid of the factory’s premises at Jalan Datuk Haji Ahmad Badawi on Monday, 8 February.
The inspectors found flies, cockroaches, and centipedes in storage containers and on the food products, as well as rat droppings in the premises.
Food Safety and Quality Division (BKMM) officer Mohd Wazir Khalid said they also found that food was being prepared on the floor and factory employees were not wearing aprons and shoes during processing.
He added that many employees were not immunised against typhoid.
In addition to the hygiene issues, the officers also discovered that the factory has been processing fishball products along with pork meat
According to Harian Metro, Mohd Wazir said this was not clear to consumers as the frozen food products are only labelled in Chinese, which could cause confusion for customers who buy these products at wet markets around Penang.
He said the lack of Bahasa Malaysia on the food labelling was violating Regulation 10 of the 1983 Food Act.
“Although it is not a halal product, we still have a responsibility to protect the non-Muslim community,” he said.
The factory was ordered to close immediately for 14 days with a total of eight compound notices issued against them
Mohd Wazir revealed that the factory had already been raided twice last year but the owner was only given verbal warnings for the same violations.
The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) has also issued the factory a compound notice under the Control of Supplies Act 1961 after joining the operation yesterday.
The ministry confiscated 45 1kg packs of subsidised cooking oil that the factory had been storing without permission.
In total, the owner was compounded RM4,100 for all the offences.
