IPOH, Sept 7 — Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) will terminate the contract of Taiping Mara Junior Science College (MRSM) dining hall operator for negligence towards hygiene in food preparations.

MARA chairman Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said they would not compromise with the operator who was found to be taking food hygiene issues lightly and violating the terms of the contract.

“No compromise...because we also want to give a signal to any other operator who takes a careless approach to the extent of affecting and threatening the lives, health and well-being of our children who are studying there,” he told a press conference here today after conducting a spot check at the Taiping MRSM dining hall yesterday.

He said the spot check was conducted following repetitive complaints received from parents whose children were down with food poisoning after eating the food prepared at the dining hall.

In the latest incident on August 30, the dining hall was ordered to close by the Larut, Matang and Selama District Health Office after 62 students were reported down with food poisoning. However, the dining hall was reopened a few days later after an inspection found that the level of cleanliness was at a satisfactory level.

However, Asyraf said he was just informed that the Ministry of Health had ordered the closure of the dining hall from today until September 20.

On the breach of contract terms, Asyraf said the operator was found to have not hired enough workers and the food they provided was not as written in the menu.

“There should have been 19 workers to man the dining hall, but during the spot check, there were only seven workers, and the dishes were not as promised in the menu,” he said.

He said the operator was also found to have given food-handling tasks to sub-contractors.

As such, he said legal action, including issuance of summons, will be taken against the operator.

Yesterday, a video of Asyraf’s spot check to the dining hall and his telephone conversation seeking an explanation from the operator went viral on Facebook. — Bernama