Association wants standardised guidelines for food trucks nationwide

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): The government must come up with a single comprehensive guideline for food truck operators to facilitate their trading activities, says Malaysian Food Truck Association (Mafta) chairman Datuk Mohamad Zaini Md Taha.

He said that to date, many food truck operators still did not have valid business permits due to confusion over different guidelines from different local authorities.

"Since their businesses are mobile, they are often confused when the conditions to apply for permits are different and obtaining permits can often be time consuming.

"Their businesses are usually only at a certain location for a short period of time so, there are some who ignore the process and just pay the site rental to organisers or trade illegally without applying for permits from the local authorities," he said when contacted by Bernama.

Mohamad Zaini said that more than 80% of food truck operators nationwide had yet to obtain a permit from the local authorities, resulting in them often being issued summonses and having action taken against them.

"To date, 820 food truck operators have registered as members of Mafta nationwide," he said.

In addition, Mohamad Zaini said many food truck operators were forced to pay exorbitant site rentals to organisers or owners of food truck sites.

"There should be some coordination on the rental fees, and it should not be overly expensive," he said.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) corporate planning director Norhaslinda Nordin said DBKL provided a mentoring programme for food truck entrepreneurs with the co-operation of the National Entrepreneurship Institute in planning the menu, marketing and business model.

She said in order to ensure food cleanliness and safety, DBKL would also provide exposure to food truck operators to ensure they were aware of the Health Ministry's Clean, Safe and Healthy (BeSS) programme.

For applications of permits, Norhaslinda said food truck operators must apply under the Mobile Trader category based on the Licensing of Traders, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (By-Laws 2016), which would be processed in 30 working days.

She said those who applied for the permits had to Malaysian's aged 18 and above and their businesses should be registered with the Companies Commission of Malayisa.

"The operators must also have typhoid injections and their vehicles must be approved by computerised vehicle inspection company Puspakom.

"They will also need to have valid public liability insurance," she explained.

"In addition, upon obtaining a valid permit, they can only conduct their trading at the stipulated locations under the supervision of DBKL and with the consent of the site managers," she added. - Bernama