HIGH 5 GETS LOW MARKS FOR HYGIENE

by RAHMAN DAROS
Malay Mail 08/09/2006








A BAKERY was raided yesterday for being dirty, employing illegal workers and using cooking oil without a ‘halal’ certification.


The raid at Stanson Bakery Sdn Bhd, which produces the High Five bread, at the Nilai Industrial Area, revealed that the floor was dirty.

Some workers were also found working without gloves or aprons, while the factory was badly-lit and poorly-ventilated.

The factory’s management volunteered to close down for two weeks after it was chided by the Health Ministry team which also issued a warning to the operator for operating under unhygienic conditions under Section 11 of the Food Act 1983.

Apart from that, seven foreign workers were detained as they could not produce employment documents while samples of the oil used in the bread mould were also taken.

The oil, carrying the brand ‘Dubur’, is from Israel.

The 2.30pm blitz was carried out by more than 30 personnel from the Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM), Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, Health Ministry, Islamic Development Department, Negri Sembilan Immigration Department, State Religious Affairs Department, Nilai Municipal Council and the police.

Silver Bird Group Bhd group managing director Datuk Jackson Tan Han Kook said the hygiene problem raised by the raiding team was subjective.

“It’s a minor issue. There were broken tiles at the factory and the management had not fixed it as it was an old factory. This is normal,” he told The Malay Mail last night.

Silver Bird is the parent company of Stanson Bakery.


The sad fact about the above news article was that The Malay Mail was about the only Malaysian newspaper that mentioned the bread brand High 5 and Stanson Bakery Sdn Bhd as being the culprit. Most of the other Malaysian papers (including the Malay language ones) were too timid to name the brand or the company, referring to it only as "a well known bread" or "a nationwide bread company".

This is a great disservice not only to the Malaysian public, but also to the other bread companies who take precious care in ensuring that their products comply to halal standards. The normal reaction among the public when not told which brand is "dirty" is to avoid all brands altogether until they receive more information. As a result, in this case all the "clean" brands also sufferred a drop in sales initially until the public gradually got to know which was the "dirty" brand.

Come on, Malaysian newspapers! About time you call a spade a spade. Or are you still too lacking in the balls department.

As for Stanson Bakery, it's about time the authorities take greater punitive action on companies which betray the trust that have been given to them in granting halal status on their products and operations. After all, they make a lot of money from the halal certification, so the punishment should also be big financially. Otherwise, it is going to make a mockery of the Halal system in the country. Don't make everyone laugh when the leaders talk about making Malaysia the "Halal Hub" of the world.

Kilamxx

For more pictures at High 5 click below:-
Muslimconsumers.org.my