Food Safety & Hygiene

Hi Everyone,

We often heard of more and more of tainted food and food poisoning cases in the world. Among these cases are:

1. China Tainted Milk Scandal in 2008
2. 13 Pupils Hit With Food Poisoning in Alor Star
3. Unhygienic Food Preparation
4. Unhygienic Eateries
5. Cyclospora Parasite Sickens 362 in 15 States, 18 Hospitalized

The China milk scandal involving several milk brands including budget brand, Sanlu, Mingli, Yili and Yashili. Babies who had been fed Sanlu branded milk were found to have kidney stones resulting in 16 babies were dead in one region in Gangsu. Further investigations revealed that the milk powders were laced with melamine, a chemical used to increase protein content^.1 Greedy and ignorant companies were boosting their profits by including melamine in milk production. We wonder why there is no conscience among unscrupulous manufacturers.

Closer to home, there were several food poisoning cases happened recently^2,3,4 and in the past few years. There were also reports on unhygienic food preparation and eateries. Rats and cockroaches are the main culprits in most of these cases. Surprisingly, some people are defending the unhygienic eateries by claiming that it tastes good. There is a restaurant near by house that is always full of people yet I have been told that this restaurant is surrounded by huge rats. Most people would actually avoid these restaurants rather than frequent these restaurants. In some cases, people will find some type of insect such as a cockroach or a fly on a plate of rice or in the bowl of a soup. 

There are also restaurants that do not prepare food hygienically. Vegetables and fruits are not washed and food are cooked using unclean cooking oil. Unclean oil means that the cook uses the cooking oil that was used in the previous day or the cooking oil found in the drain also known as Gutter Oil. It is to our disgust that we see the video showing how gutter oil is produced. Gutter Oil is present in 1 in 10 of China's cooking oil and is carcinogenic. Food not prepared in hygienic ways will cause diarrhoea and vomiting. It will cause Hepatitis C and death in worst cases. Rats in the surrounding area also cause the Leptospirosis disease.

Recently in US, there is also the case of Cyclospora happening mostly in the state of Iowa. It sickened 274 people and hospitalises 10. To know more, please read Item 2 in the links above.

A number of fruit and vegetable farmers and sellers are also spraying huge amounts of pesticide and insecticide to their crops. These are not good as there will be high level of chemicals in our body after consuming these foods.

There is also a concern of food safety in China. This is written by one of The Star's journalist who is working in China.

In a nutshell, all food should be prepared in a clean environment. Food must be fresh and free of any harmful chemicals. Fruits and vegetables need to be washed thoroughly. Dirty parts should be removed. Unhygienic food can kill.

1. 2008 Chinese Milk Scandal, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal, 

<sup>Accessed: 27th July 2013

2. 12 Penang students down with food poisoning, http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/12-penang-students-down-with-food-poisoning/, Accessed: 27th July 2013

3. 13 Pupils Hit With Food Poisoning, http://www.malaysiandigest.com/news/36-local2/332061-13-pupils-hit-with-food-poisoning.html , Accessed: 27th July 2013

4. 70 pupils of Bukit Kapar school down with food poisoning, http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/02/20/70-pupils-of-Bukit-Kapar-school-down-with-food-poisoning.aspx , Accessed: 27th July 2013</sup>