Shocking food storage at Kemas kindergartens

p/s : we hope, it's not happen in PDK centers in Malaysia.

PETALING JAYA: Audit officers who checked several Kemas (Community Development Department) kindergartens in Kedah and Kelantan got a shock of their lives.


They found food stored in unhygienic places, including in areas filled with cockroach droppings, the Auditor-General said in his 2010 report.

There were food, some expired, kept in toilets, drawers, classrooms and next to paint spray cans.

The state Kemas offices said food were kept in such places due to lack of storage spaces.

The report noted that was lack of training on food storage management despite the centres having bought storage racks and cupboards.

The report found that some kindergartens were not providing children with multivitamins or nutritious food as they should.

Audit checks revealed that 55.2% or 79 of the 143 kindergartens inspected were serving food not prescribed by the Kemas headquarters.

However from feedback, Kemas gathered that the menu and recipes were sometimes not properly followed as they were not distributed to the kindergartens.

Other reasons were that the children did not like the menu food, there was no time to cook or the ingredients were pricy or difficult to obtain.

The report said approval must be obtained from the Kemas headquarters for any menu changes.

The audit, conducted between July and October last year, found the overall management of the food programme to be satisfactory as 99.5% of the classroom target had been met.