Kota Kinabalu: A total of 32 compounds under the Minor Offences (Food and Food Premises) By-Laws 1966 and two compounds under the Minor Offences (Anti-Litter) By-Laws 1984 were issued by the City Hall’s Environmental Health Department throughout May.
These were issued against food premises that failed to comply with licence conditions and cleanliness criteria during inspections of food premises.
Among the offences were failure by premise operators to install grease traps according to stipulated specifications, food handlers not having valid health certificates, failure by premise operators to properly maintain grease traps, operators conducting cooking and food preparation activities in the five-foot way area, food handlers failing to wear food handler cards while working, operating businesses with expired licences and discharging waste water from kitchen cooking areas into public drains.
In addition, 49 Improvement Notice orders were issued to food premise operators to improve and upgrade the cleanliness and orderliness of their premises as well as proper food handling and storage methods and compliance with licence conditions.
In this series of inspections, a total of 220 food premises were inspected involving 53 locations across the city.
The star rating for toilet facilities at food premises was also carried out, with 59 premises achieving Three Stars and above, 70 premises achieving Two Stars and below, while 38 more premises did not have toilets to be assessed.
Food premise operators are advised to make improvements to enhance the cleanliness and facilities of their premises’ toilets.
The inspections also found that a total of 66 food premises have implemented pest control measures, while 101 more food premises have yet to carry out pest control at their premises.
Operators who have not implemented pest control at their premises are advised to do so regularly.
