As the title went, we really got disappointed when practical session for premise inspection and food sampling was cancelled as the person in charged could not make it to prepare us such activities. Besides that, it was Thursday and no food sampling will be taken as the Laboratory is off from friday till Sunday.
So, we continued with THEORY LECTURES again. We were briefed by PPKP Adam who is in charged of the Food Safety and Quality Control (FSQC).
PPKP Adam
The law used by this unit will be the Akta Makanan 1983 ( Food Act 1983), Peraturan makanan 1985 ( Food Regulations 1985), and Standard Peraturan Air Minuman berbungkus 1985 (Standard Regulation of Packed Water 1985). Practically, Peraturan-peraturan Hasil Tembakau 2004 (Tobacco Control Act 2004) comes under the Food Act and Food regulation.
He told us briefly about what the factory has to deal with DHO before setting up a food processing factory and surveillance done in school/food premise, factory, restaurant and static stalls.
When a new food related factory is established, the factory is required to apply license from State municipal. The municipal will then forward a letter to FSQC of KMDHO. FSQC unit will then conduct a food sampling on that premise besides assessing the cleanliness of the factory, machine, tools, and the staffs. Typhi IV card of the employees are assessed as well. Thyphi IV card is an identification card that is given when salmonella typhi vaccination is given to the food handler of the factory or food premise.
Then a random sampling of the food product will be done. The sample will be sent to Jabatan Kimia Penang (Penang Laboratory Dept.) and check the parameters such as chemical, physical and microbiological. Sample that require chemical and physical assessment must be sent to Laboratory by 3 days whereas sample must be sent within 24hours for microbiological parameters. Microbiological parameters include checking the presence of Salmonella spp, Staphylococcus Aureus, E. Coli, Coliform count and plate count.
After that, the label of the product will be assess according to Food regulation Act 1985 under Regulation 18 in which label with "Super, 100% Natural, King, Class 1, Brilliant, Quality Guaranteed, and High Quality are prohibited". Well, if someone were to ask me "How bout the brand Super Ring, Beras Super, and King ice cream?". I can only say, " sorry, I have no comment ladies and gentlemen".
When every assessment is passed, Health certificate will be issued by DHO of the state to the factory and the factory can now export to overseas as long as the requirements are met with the standard set by the importing country. For a better recognition, factory can apply Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and/or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP). GMP is well recognised locally but not internationally. For HACCP, it is recognised both locally and internationally. If factory has HACCP recognition, food sampling is exempted. The municipal will then issue certificate to allow manufacturing in the last step of application process. For further information, JAKIM (the body that certify HALAL'ship') has no connection with DHO and they assess the food by themselves.
If the food sampling does not meet the requirement, the factory will not be closed but instead, the batch of the food produced will be disposed and a new batch of food is produced. Then the new sample is taken again until the batch of food produced meets the requirement.
For imported food such as the food brought in from Thailand, the product will be held at least 1-2 weeks for sampling. All the parameters are checked before the product are permitted to enter Malaysia. This topic is covered very briefly as we do not really have the facilities to appreciate the process. Hope the DHO team that is posted near to Thailand border will give us more coverage on this topic.
As for food surveillance, it will be done twice a year (especially in school canteen). If there is 1 outbreak of food poisoning, the surveillance will be done once every 4 months (3 times in a year). The premises are classified into Factory, Restaurant/Food Premise, School Canteen, Static Hawker, and Seasonal hawker (e.g. Lontong, festive cakes,and foods sold at a particular festive season). The process of surveillance and food sampling will be discussed in specific topic of day 4.
Then our activity is continued with lecture from KPAS unit at 2.30pm to 4.30pm by PPKP Tengku Baharudin. According to him, this unit is temporarily focusing on the health staffs only and will expand their scope on the other fields later in future. The main aspect that is taken cared by this unit is the Sharp Object Injury, Hepatitis B vaccination program, and Healthy Setting Program.
PPKP Tengku Baharudin
The law used in this unit will be Occupational Safety Health Act 1994 (OSHA ACT 1994). If someone is acting against this law, the guilty will be punished with a penalty of equal/less than RM50 000 or equal/less than 5 years of jail or both.
Any sharp injury must be notified within 24 hours to DHO office by phone and sent a notification form withing 7 days.
Healthy setting is then introduced to us. The definition of healthy setting is a place where everyone work together to achieve an agreed vision for the health and well being of worker and surrounding community. This program takes care of staff psychologically, socially and physically. A routine feedback is taken from staff on safe setting. This is to ensure health promotion and prevention are integrated into working environment.
This is all for today. Thanks for reading.
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