Putrajaya to boost food safety guidelines after Perak incident

Food cleanliness and safety guidelines will be improved to ensure the food poisoning case due to the spraying of herbicides near food premises will not be repeated, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. He said the move would be carried out after the source of pollution causing the food poisoning case in Batu Gajah, Perak on Friday was established. "There is guidebook on food management but maybe it needs to be improved after we have determined the source of the pollution," he said when contacted by Bernama. Yesterday, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the food poisoning case in Siputeh, Batu Gajah was the first one reported as a result of sprayed herbicide which was blown into food at a nearby stall. Commenting further on the incident, Dr Noor Hisham said, as of today, two of the four critical victims were still being treated at the Intensive Care Unit of the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital (HRPB) in Ipoh, Perak and they were reported to be stable. As of Friday, 37 people, comprising 30 men and seven women, aged two to 71 years, were treated at HBG after they vomited and had diarrhea, believed to be from food poisoning. Twenty-four victims were discharged the evening on the same day, nine are still being treated at HBG and four critical cases are being treated at the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital in Ipoh. In Ipoh, Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon, the state exco in charge of health in Perak, in a statement said the laboratory reports on the case were expected to be out on March 8. – Bernama, March 6, 2016.]]>