GEORGE TOWN: Rat droppings on plastic bread packaging and saturated oil residue that can cause food contamination are dripping on to freshly baked breads.
Apart from that, the bread-making equipment are also 'crusty', and the owner even placed the ready-cooked breads in boxes with the halal logo although the factory has never applied for a halal certificate from the authorities.
This is the situation at a bakery that has been operating for the past 50 years at Jalan Kedah here, which was ordered to close for two weeks by the Penang Health Department today for not meeting food safety and quality standards.
State Health Department Food Safety and Quality Division environmental health officer Mohd Wazir Khalid said his team found that the level of cleanliness in the premises did not reach the standards under the Food Safety Assurance Programme, which can cause food contamination and poisoning.
"The bakery was once issued with a warning last year because it did not meet the set hygiene standards.
"Today, through the raid, we found rat droppings on the plastic bread packaging and saturated oil residue on the toaster rack.
"In fact, the owner also uses the halal logo, which is confusing, and distributes the bread throughout the state," he said when met after the raid at the premises here.
Wazir said the owner was also asked to dispose off all the plastic bread packaging that were contaminated with rat droppings as it was dangerous to public health.
In a separate development, Wazir said they also ordered a noodle factory that has been operating for the past 80 years at Jalan Pintal Tali here to be closed, also due to various issues involving food safety and hygiene.
He said the noodle factory was found to have operated under unclean conditions and did not meet the food safety level set by the department.
"The owner had placed the readily-processed food on the floor and this product also did not have a label.
"We raided this factory last year and warned them to improve on the quality of cleanliness but to no avail," he added.
The closure notice was made under Section 11 of the Food Act 1983.
Both premises were also slapped with coumpounds, totalling nearly RM3,000.