Four stalls in a renowned hawker café at SS15 were ordered to close down after the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) embarked on a sudden inspection operation to the food premises yesterday.
The four stalls were found to have committed major hygienic offences and scored as low as 28 out of 100 in the council’s food premise ratings.
The stalls’ business licenses have been suspended for three days, and the owners will have to reorganize their stalls before they will be allowed to remove the sealing tape around their stalls.
The operation was done after the council received numerous complaints on the presence of cockroaches and rats in the 60-stall hawker café.
Leading the operation team was council president Dato Adnan Md Ikshan, who said many food premise owners have been taking their customers’ health lightly.
He added that the restaurant and vendors associations, which were supposed to educate members about the importance of cleanliness, have chosen to neglect their roles.
“It seems like they don’t care anything as long as they are making profits,” Adnan said.
He warned that MPSJ will conduct more regular operations to ensure all food premises maintain the highest standard of cleanliness.
“We will suspend outlets for three days if they do not get at least 50 marks in our hygiene rating. For those that get more than 50 but are found with offences, we will still issue compound,” he added.
A waiter from one of the suspended stalls, when asked, admitted that he was told to wear apron and gloves by his boss before.
“But since my boss seldom comes (to stall), I don’t take the matter seriously,” he said.
In the first eight months of the year alone, MPSJ had issued 409 compounds and closed 8 food premises within the municipality.
MPSJ hygiene rating comprises criteria such as staff’s appearance, food handling, waste handling and premise hygiene.
Frequent offences include not wearing hats, aprons and shoes; failure to get typhoid vaccinations; and tables and chairs obstructing five-foot ways.
CJMY
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