M'sian health ministry suspends Pahang hawker stall after worker caught cleaning pot with broom

Had your lunch? This might make you lose it.

A Malaysian roadside hawker stall in the Pahang town of Kuala Lapis has been caught cleaning their cooking pots with a broom.

It's all gone to pot

A brief video of the incident was shared on a private Facebook group Komuniti Anak-Anak Lipis on Oct. 5, 2024 and later uploaded to other social media.

Basuh periuk pakai penyapu??🤮🤮 Lokasi depan Terminal Anggerik, Kuala Lipis..

Kredit video owner pic.twitter.com/wzniPuRouq

— #UpdateInfo🇲🇾🌍 (@update11111) October 5, 2024

It shows a man wearing an apron, likely an employee of the stall, scrubbing the inside of a large metal cooking pot with a broom.

Adding insult to injury, the man doesn't appear to be scrubbing with any particular vigour.

Commenters reacted with outrage and disgust which appears to have prompted action from the authorities.

According to Sinar Harian on Oct. 6, the Lipis District Council has opened an investigation into the roadside stall, with its chairman saying that legal action would be taken against the stall if the offence was proven to have taken place.

On Oct. 7, the situation escalated further, the New Straits Times reported that the Malaysian Health Ministry had shut down the store for 14 days, after conducting a surprise inspection of the restaurant and its food storage.

Wok on earth are you doing

Perhaps worst of all, its not the only questionable utensil washing video that's been making its way around Malaysian social media in recent days.

World of Buzz shared a video post by Twitter account @update11111 showing a man washing a wok with drain water.

Credit 📹 0WNER VIDE0

Penyumbang kepada ekonomi penguatkuasa.. Mana boleh kacau..https://t.co/2gJvOlYBLo pic.twitter.com/rQGotg48Xo

— #UpdateInfo🇲🇾🌍 (@update11111) October 8, 2024

The video shows a hawker restaurant set up in a clearing beside a drain, with open-air seating and cooking facilities under temporary gazebos.

Next to the gazebo is a large drain with water flowing through it. It is not shown where the water originates from.

A worker is crouched in the drain rinsing a wok with noticeably brown, dirty water.

The person taking the video begins to berate him, scolding him for his actions.

The worker looks up, and without responding leaps out of the drain and moves away as the video cuts off.

Its not the tool, its the principal

That was arguably much worse than the pot cleaning broom.

There have been occasions where cleaning implements have been used in cooking, but only when the implements are new and have never been used for other purposes.

One example is that of American barbecue restaurants using mops to slop sauce onto their meat.

Or a viral video showing how a bucket of potatoes can be peeled in seconds using a handheld drill and a toilet brush.

There's nowhere to get a fresh, never-used drain with associated pristine drain water.

Top image via @update11111/X