IPOH, 29 March 2019:
The Perak Health Department has found that 799 or 93% of water dispensing machines in the state are without a Ministry of Health (MoH) licence.
Director Datuk Dr Ding Lay Ming said of the 860 machines in the state, only 61 had licenses while 119 were in the process of applying for licences.
There was “low’ awareness among the people and the companies that operated the machines on the importance of consuming clean drinking water with the MoH licence, she said while inspecting a machine outside a laundry shop at Bercham.
“This is because unlicensed machines are likely to be vulnerable to the dangers of micro organisms that could contaminate and affect the water quality.”
She said that a water dispensing machine that had been approved and licensed would have a MoH sticker on it.
Ding said under Regulation 360c of the Food Regulations 1985, water from dispensing machines had to undergo filtration, osmosis, distillation, ionisation or equivalent processes and disinfection.
She added that operators of the machines who were without a licence would be given 14 days to do so from today. Should they fail to do so, the state Health Department would issue a notice under Section 32B of the Food Act 1983 with a compound of RM2,000.
Those who fail to pay the fine could have their case brought to court and could face a maximum fine of RM10,000 or two years in jail or both.”
– Bernama
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