Council alternate chairman for public health Wong Yuee Harng said previously, eateries could only be ordered closed by the Health Department.
He said come Nov 1, all eateries on the island would be subject to close scrutiny for cleanliness under the new authorisation given by the mayor today. This power comes under the Council (Food Establishments) Bylaws 1991.
“Giving fines has not worked before and to close restaurants, we had to follow the Health Department.
“Now, we can go on our own to evaluate the cleanliness of eateries and decide if they need to be closed for a clean-up for at least three days and a maximum of 14 days.
“Operators would have to meet the passing grades of 51 and above to be considered clean. Those scoring below 50 would be closed,” he said when contacted.
Wong said some of the aspects that would be looked into are how sanitary the food preparation area is; the cleanliness of toilets, tables and chairs; and ensuring the eatery is free of rodents and cockroaches.
When asked why the law wasn’t used earlier, Wong said the state had preferred the Health Department to carry out closures.
“But this has forced us to go on spot-checks at eateries with them. Now, we can go on our own and we have more enforcement officers to be spread around for effective enforcement,” he said.
Penang had nearly 1,300 health violations at eateries at the end of July. Twenty food outlets were closed, 991 were given compound notices for food safety-related offences. Another 266 compound notices were issued to operators without a grease trap.
In the Seberang Perai area, 68 eateries were closed this year, compared with 138 last year, and 69 in 2017.
The state government’s data, released in July, showed a total of 30,748 food safety-related compound notices issued to the state’s eateries since 2008.
City council food compound summonses carry a fine of a maximum RM450, while offences under the Food Act 1983 may carry a RM100,000 fine or a maximum 10-year jail on conviction.
In June, 12 food outlets, including famous nasi kandar outlets in George Town, were ordered to close by the state Health Department for two weeks, after they were found to have violated food safety regulations.
The high number of health violations has prompted the Penang government to set a target of having at least 70% of eateries in the state meet the Grade A cleanliness level by next year.