AN UNLICENSED chicken slaughterhouse at Section 3 in Old Town, Petaling Jaya, was shut down as it caused an environmental and health hazard where blood mixed with water and innards were discharged into the drain.
Petaling Jaya City Council’s (MBPJ) environmental health officer Marini Mohammad, who led the raid, said the slaughterhouse had been in operation for about a month and was shut down due to the high polluted effluent discharge.
“Our initial investigations found that the chickens slaughtered were supplied to the Old Town Wet Market at Jalan Othman which is about 650m from the slaughterhouse that operated from a shop lot.
"We found the processing methods could contaminate the meat as the slaughtered carcasses, covered in blood, were placed on bloodied floors.
"Worse still the four Bangladeshi workers hired to slaughter the chickens had no typhoid jabs,” she said.
In the 3am operation, MBPJ’s Health Enforcement Unit stopped a batch of 300 chickens brought for slaughter and told the workers to remove the birds from the shop lot back into the vehicle.
It is learnt that the chicken slaughter operations moved 2.5km to Section 3 from the Jalan Tandang industrial area off Jalan Penchala after its rented premises was not renewed for the business.
Marini added that the illegal chicken slaughterhouse was found out after residents who live in the area made complaints due to the bad smell that emanated from the drainage networks.
“Operating a chicken slaughterhouse would leave large quantities of by-products like entrails, feathers and blood that needs to be disposed of in a proper manner but this was a reckless operation that could cause diseases,” she said.
Marini said the 3am operation which involved five men from the Health Enforcement Unit was carried out under the MBPJ Food Establishment By-laws 2007 where a fine of RM1,500 was issued for no licence and health violations.