http://archives.thestar.com.my/search/?

q=Long+reports Wednesday October 12, 2011

Owner fined for keeping live chickens and fish in shop

GEORGE TOWN: The owner of a mini market in Paya Terubong was fined RM550 by the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) for hygiene-related offences. Its Public Health Standing Committee alternate chairman Ong Ah Teong said the council had received complaints from residents about the owner keeping live chickens and fish at the shop. There were also dead fish and rotten meat among the goods sold at the shop, he told reporters during a raid at the shop . Ong added that the shop owner was fined RM300 by the council under MPPPs Food Establishment by-laws 1991 for dirty premises, keeping animals without licence at the shop and leaving goods on the floor, and an additional RM250 fine for operating a business without proper licence. Those in the mini market business are not allowed to sell live animals at their shop. They can only sell frozen meat, he said. During the raid, council officers carted away 12 live chickens which were kept in the shops toilet and three tubs of live fish located at the entrance. A Bangladeshi man was found manning the shop when the council team arrived. It is learnt that the shop owner was his Malaysian sister-in-law. Ong said the owner was given three days to claim the seized animals that were sent to the councils enforcement premises on Jalan Timah, off Jalan Datuk Keramat, but had to pay RM50 before the owner could take them back.

He said: The council had carried out similar raids at mini markets on Jalan Gurdwara, Jalan Magazine and Jalan Pasar.