Food safety first: Baker, cafe owner call for hygiene priorities

SHAH ALAM – Customers should be selective when choosing restaurants or ordering food, ensuring hygiene is a top priority.

Omel Omel bakery owner Aida Maal highlighted the importance of food hygiene in the industry, stressing that food handlers must get typhoid vaccinations to prevent disease transmission.

As a baker, she said that she would stick to a routine activity that maintained the cleanliness of her workspace, which was cleaning the workspace and tools once a week.

"I will check the expiration date of the ingredients while restocking any out-of-stock ingredients," she said.

For that, she had received much support from customers who had commended the quality of her baking, aside from them being delicious and addictive.

"I will make sure customers get delicious baked goods with an attractive, cute, and quality presentation," she said, while also ensuring their cleanliness.

She also professed her disappointment in restaurants lately that did not maintain their cleanliness, which eventually leads to food poisoning, citing last month’s case saw two dead after eating contaminated fried eggs from an event in Gombak.

"It is strange, even though the restaurant looks dirty, there are still customers who visit the restaurant," she said.

She urged customers to be smarter in making decisions to avoid harming themselves through unexpected cases such as food poisoning.

Meanwhile, Marookha Cafe owner Zara Riza emphasised the importance of adhering to strict Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) when it comes to dealing with foods.

"People need to wash their hands before and after dealing with raw meat, as well as after using the toilet," she said.

That is, upon observation, she saw that many people working in food and beverage (F&B) services did not wash their hands after leaving the bathroom.

"There is a list of SOPs for people in the F&B industry to adhere to maintain an optimal level of hygiene," she said.

She also outlined the need to impose sanctions, such as fining people who do not follow the SOPs.

“The shop should be given a warning; if they do not change and follow SOPS, they should be fined,” Zara said.