Penang Health Department officers have shut down a row of food outlets along Penang Road yesterday after rat droppings were found littered throughout the premises.
Inspectors went as far as shining ultraviolet light into the corners of each restaurant, and in one in particular, found that the kitchen glowed, showing rat urine splattered across the room.
Popular shops such as Monirul Corner were found to have dozens of rat pellets scattered in cooking areas, with inspectors finding a used wok with leftover Indian confection inside containing a piles of rat dung.
Shocked by what they found, authorities have shuttered the shop, along with neighboring restaurants Tong Seng Hainan Chicken Rice and Kek Seng Café. The trio now have two weeks to clean up their act before they are allowed to re-open.
Rat dung and urine, found in the closed eateries, transmit a wide range of diseases, including the life-threatening leptospirosis. The rodent waste can also trigger a chain of salmonella infections, which while not usually deadly, can spread quickly and trigger diarrhoea for days.
Penang’s senior health officer Goh Eng Chun has said that cleanliness is now a top priority in the state’s eateries, saying that with an increase in tourist numbers, officials must ensure that the food served is clean and safe. Inspections will now be carried out weekly, as opposed to fortnightly.
Earlier this month, Kelantan authorities closed down several eateries after they found a litany of health infractions, including installing pipes through waste drains.
While local Kota Baru, Kelantan municipal council president Ahmad Robert Abdul Rahim said that they were closing them for two weeks to allow for cleaning and re-inspection, he also announced yesterday that syariah Islamic dress code adherence among employees would now be added to the rating system.
Yes, because when you’re eating rat poop covered chicken rice, the tightness of the chef’s jeans is also of concern.
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