Researchers: Study not meant to divide

PETALING JAYA: Critics say that a study on the hygiene practices of foreign workers should be compared with local workers’ before they are solely blamed for unhygienic practices.

A Malaysian doctor based in Australia, Dr Yew Chang Yang, said Universiti Malaya’s study “Microorganism as indicator of hygiene status among foreign food handlers in Peninsular Malaysia” appeared discriminatory as it seemed to target only migrant food handlers and offered no comparison to local food handlers.

“It seems to support the notion that migrant food handlers are ‘dirtier’ than locals,” he said.

The Star has received similar feedback after it reported recently the findings published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health in October that hand swabs taken from 383 legal migrant workers indicated a potential health hazard.

Parasitologist Assoc Prof Dr Siti Nursheena Mohd Zain said her team found 99.5% of workers sampled possessed high levels of Aerobic Plate Count (APC) exceeding acceptable standards.

Products showing unusually high APCs are potential health hazards.

It also showed that 64% of workers sampled had high counts of Staphylococcus aureus which ex­­ceeded acceptable levels of hygiene while one-fifth showed high levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli).

Dr Siti Nursheena explained that the study was not meant to be a comparative study but a targeted study based on the Home Ministry’s data that showed that a large number of workers involved in food preparations was foreign.

“It was not meant to divide between foreign and local workers but to see how food hygiene practices among these foreign workers could be improved as closing down outlets did not resolve the issue,” she said.

A co-researcher of the study, microbiologist Prof Dr Thong Kwai Lin, said other studies were already done on locals.

“It was not meant to look at the locals. So, we cannot generalise that they are dirtier than locals,” she said.

Dr Thong also explained that the study, using materials purchased commercially from an established company, was just an indicator of hygiene and does not go into detail the breakdown of bad and harmless Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli and hence, does not conclude that the bacteria caused food poisoning.

“Food poisoning microbes take a longer time to isolate, detect and confirm,” she said.

However, asked about the abstract of the study saying: “Our findings indicate high probability of transmission of pathogenic bacteria from the food handlers’ hands to customers during meal preparation and serving”, Dr Thong explained that there was no sterile environment but de­­pen­ding on the level of contamination, it does not necessarily mean that it will lead to food poisoning.

She was responding to The Star’s article which had reported that the bacteria could cause food poisoning, which meant it might or might not cause the problem but some people on social media had taken it to mean that it will.