Pack essentials to prevent contamination, shops told

TheEdge Fri, Jun 04, 2021 06:05pm - 2 years View Original


KUALA LUMPUR (June 4): The Federal Territories Ministry has recommended that business premises have ready-packed daily essentials on display to prompt buyers to skip the process of choosing before making their pick to reduce the rate of Covid-19 infection.

Its deputy minister Datuk Seri Dr Santhara Kumar said a buyer would have handled several of the same items before deciding on one to his satisfaction. 

He said an asymptomatic Covid-19 customer could inadvertently contaminate wet produce with his or her touch and the virus could be picked up by others after him or her who also checked the unbought goods.

“I want the management of the premises to think of how the buyer can be prompted not to pick and choose. For example, they can perform their own quality control and pack the goods so that a buyer will just take a packed item without having to dither to make a selection.

“We know the public wants to make the best purchase. The chickens are all the same but they still want to pick and choose.

“But now we are in the new normal and each and every one of the items has the same quality, so just take one,” he said after conducting a standard operating procedure (SOP) check at the Kuchai Lama NSK here, today.

In addition, he said the management must give their assurance that ready-packed essential items are of good quality.

“So, the public will get used to the situation. Otherwise, we will also be in a difficult situation if the goods are damaged or of low quality,” he said.

Santhara also said business premises must also determine how they could ensure an optimum number of customers in their premises at any one time to ensure the total lockdown SOPs are adhered to, including physical distancing.

In another development, Santhara said 137 SOP compliance inspections were conducted in Kuala Lumpur since June 1 until yesterday.

“The inspections were focused on companies listed under essential services. Two compounds were issued amounting to RM20,000 for flouting the trading time permitted,” he said.

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