Its director, Dr Norhizan Ismail, said today the department was notified by the Consumers Association of Kedah of five complaints it had received on consumers suffering burns after eating the cookies.

After getting the complaints, the department sent officers to the venues of the two outlets, at the Darulaman Stadium area and Bandar Baru Mergong, but the two premises had ceased operations, he said.

“We feel the operators had taken the precautionary move (to shut down operations) to avoid facing action after the issue went viral (on social media),” he said.

Dr Norhizan said the department would continue to monitor the situation.

It is believed that liquid nitrogen was used to “produce” the fumes in the Dragon Breath cookies.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had said liquid nitrogen was not dangerous if handled properly in food preparation.

In a statement, he said food producers using liquid nitrogen should ensure that it had fully evaporated before selling their products to consumers so as to avoid cryogenic burns or frostbites.

Dr Norhizan hoped food producers and consumers in Kedah would heed his advice.

He advised the public to lodge complaints or provide information to the department through the district health offices or over the website http://jknkedah.moh.gov.my or the department’s Facebook account if they had doubts about the safety of food in the market.