Abstract
The School Milk Programme in Malaysia which supplies chocolate-flavoured UHT milk to school children encountered some problems due to microbiological contamination and was temporarily suspended for a few years. When the programme was resumed, the Food Safety and Quality Division of the Sabah State Health Department carried out a study along the food chain in an effort to pinpoint weaknesses along the supply chain. The objective of this paper is to elaborate on the findings of the study and the remedial actions taken. The method of study was through sampling along the food chain and inspection of premises which was carried out by Food Technologists and Environmental Health Officers using standard protocol. Microbiological analysis was also carried out at the Sandakan Food Safety and Quality Laboratory as well as the Kota Kinabalu Public Health Laboratory using accredited methods. Investigations revealed that there were weaknesses along the supply chain wherein microbial contraventions could be detected in raw milk from Milk Collecting Centres as well as in UHT milk from the processing factory, warehouses and storeroom at schools. The Veterinary services and Animal Industry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Safety and Quality Division of the Sabah State Health Department cooperated to carry out improvements along the supply chain including improving the infrastructure of Milk Collecting Centres to improve the quality of raw milk supplied, and enhanced monitoring at the processing factory. The Food Safety and Quality Division prepared guidelines and disseminated them to all stakeholders. Monitoring was also heightened at warehouses and school storerooms. Consequently there was a significant reduction in the number of food poisoning episodes suspected to be due to consumption of chocolate flavoured UHT milk in Sabah from 16 episodes in 2013 to 2 episodes in 2017.
Links
- https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-O-47.pdf
- https://apcph.cphm.my/events/oral-session-1-ballroom-A/
BibTeX (Download)
@proceedings{APCPH2022-O-47,
title = {Safety Of UHT Milk Along Supply Chain in Sabah, Malaysia},
author = {Jeyaletchumi Ponniah and Christina Rundi and Norlida bt.Darus and Chang Shui Han and Nurhaida Abdul Malek and Chennie Sheila Wong},
url = {https://apcph.cphm.my/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/APCPH2022-O-47.pdf
https://apcph.cphm.my/events/oral-session-1-ballroom-A/},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-01},
urldate = {2022-08-02},
issue = {7},
abstract = {The School Milk Programme in Malaysia which supplies chocolate-flavoured UHT milk to school children encountered some problems due to microbiological contamination and was temporarily suspended for a few years. When the programme was resumed, the Food Safety and Quality Division of the Sabah State Health Department carried out a study along the food chain in an effort to pinpoint weaknesses along the supply chain. The objective of this paper is to elaborate on the findings of the study and the remedial actions taken. The method of study was through sampling along the food chain and inspection of premises which was carried out by Food Technologists and Environmental Health Officers using standard protocol. Microbiological analysis was also carried out at the Sandakan Food Safety and Quality Laboratory as well as the Kota Kinabalu Public Health Laboratory using accredited methods. Investigations revealed that there were weaknesses along the supply chain wherein microbial contraventions could be detected in raw milk from Milk Collecting Centres as well as in UHT milk from the processing factory, warehouses and storeroom at schools. The Veterinary services and Animal Industry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Safety and Quality Division of the Sabah State Health Department cooperated to carry out improvements along the supply chain including improving the infrastructure of Milk Collecting Centres to improve the quality of raw milk supplied, and enhanced monitoring at the processing factory. The Food Safety and Quality Division prepared guidelines and disseminated them to all stakeholders. Monitoring was also heightened at warehouses and school storerooms. Consequently there was a significant reduction in the number of food poisoning episodes suspected to be due to consumption of chocolate flavoured UHT milk in Sabah from 16 episodes in 2013 to 2 episodes in 2017.},
howpublished = {published online at https://apcph.cphm.my},
note = {Type: ORAL PRESENTATION; Organisation: Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Sabah},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {proceedings}
}