The New Straits Times, February 27 2000
By Prof. Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
About three weeks ago, a six-year old boy reportedly died in Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Although the exact cause of this incident is yet to be ascertained, it is alleged that the incident took place after the boy consumed "instant noodles with eggs".
One is reminded of the infamous 'loh see fun' poisoning incident, where in 1988, 14 schoolchildren died due to food poisoning involving noodles. Overall last year, there were 7 deaths related to food poisoning according the Ministry of Health recently.
Deaths related to food are just the tip of the iceberg. This is because food-related poisoning normally starts from a single source and tends to spread via chains of events involving food production, preparation, storage, distribution and lastly consumption. The source could be anywhere along the chains of events. It is therefore not suprising that at the end of the chains thousands more may be implicated. Still the true picture nationwide remains elusive due to under reporting.
Many cases referred to the private practices apparently went unreported, presumably so that the guilty party is spared. Indications are the trend is increasing.
But this is not just the question of statistics. It is more the question of awareness and, about Malaysians of all walks of life taking control on the situation in tandem with the national aspiration of a healthy society.
It is a question of how best the chains of events can be broken.
Of the cases in 1999, educational institutions, namely schools were largely implicated. Similarly for the past years. That students are vulnerable is of particular concern. Although regulations have been drawn up to tackle this problem and periodic checks carried out, more potent "antidote" seems to be required. For example, in 1999, the number of cases reported were 4677, more than doubled that of 1994, of about 2283 cases.
More interesting still, in 1994, of 3508 school canteens inspected, only 21 per cent were classified as clean, while the majority (72.3 per cent) was moderately clean. Meaning to say that only a small proportion of our schoolchildren is relatively well protected from the exposure to food poisoning then. What is the situation now is unclear. In any case, there must be something more that need to be considered in our effort to improve the situation.
As far as schools and educational institutions are concern, there are many opportunities for this. These are after all places where we should be teaching our children (also teachers-to-be) about good eating habits both in theory and practice. In the majority of the situations, all that is required to stay free from food poisoning is to a large extent common sense. And most of it is culturally compatible and practised.
Very little is new or need to be learnt anew.
The key issue therefore is not so much what we know, but rather what we do with what we know. Are we practising them diligently? Are they being constantly re-enforced both in schools and at home?
Here is where canteens and cafeteria can play a "value-added" role. Besides providing gastronomic supplements, they should be the place to feed the minds as well. While aspects of hygiene and cleanliness are taught in classes, they must also be constantly re-enforced and demonstrated as well as performed daily. Canteens and cafeteria are the most suitable 'laboratories' for this purpose. They ought to be regarded as extension of the classrooms where the training should involve active learning and not just compliance to rules and regulations limited to breaks or recess times.
Over time this is how habits are cultivated, and schools can be effective in doing this - where good habits are acquired, and bad ones changed, if only the right approach is consistently adopted. As much as students can be trained to be mindful about making supplications and giving thanks before eating their meals, likewise they too could be trained to remember the basic rules of hygiene before eating. The whole purpose is to introduce, and cultivate a new set of food-related habits in a practical way.
On top of this it is perhaps timely for schools to recognise that food too can affect mental performances that are so vital in schools. For instances, it has been shown that various food combinations or if consumed at the wrong time, they can give rise to sluggish mental ability. Thus apart from the concept of a balanced diet, some of these aspects are in fact very relevant to the learning environment. It calls for a rethinking as to the importance of canteens and cafeteria beyond just a place to cope with one's hunger pangs.
In captive situations like schools and educational institutions, the canteens and cafeteria should be playing a role of more than just trading posts. They should be exemplary of what good eateries should be like.
They should also educate, other than just sell, so that the students can begin to appreciate what they are putting in their mouths. In short, new nutritional goals and eating habits for schoolchildren must be established and propagated based on appropriate actions. It is pertinent that the children be guided to put the knowledge gathered in classrooms into practice. This is no less important as compared to the subject under "living skills." What the children have learned will remain tacit-knowledge unless they are able to use it in some relevant situations, including when they are out of the school compounds. This is where the real test of effective learning would ultimately be.
It is rather disheartening to see that there are still many who are patronising the hawkers' and food stalls situated just outside the school fences. Judging from such daily occurrences in many schools, pupils seem to prefer the menu presented by the hawkers, without giving much thought to hygienic practices. Casually one can still see how food operators and sellers alternately handle food and money with the same bare hands. While this may not be an offence as such, it does present an ample opportunity to introduce whatever contaminants from the latter to the former, and passing them on to the customers. Some even dare to sell those "forbidden" in the canteens, and totally ignoring the minimum standards of hygiene. But unfortunately the students are not deterred; quite oblivious that each time they can be exposed to greater risk of food poisoning. The question that begs to be answered is why are they not mindful of what they know about hygienic foods.
Extending this argument, the situation can get pretty complex.
Today, like never before, the up-and-coming generation is increasingly being confronted with having to be make gooddecisions about what they should be eating. On one hand there is the junk food culture spun not least by many bona fide outlets; and on the other the hotly debated issues about the pros and cons of genetically-modified foods and the like.
Sandwiched in between are the forgotten menus of nutritious traditional Malaysian foods that for some reasons, the younger generations have little liking for. In fact, when it comes to making choices their minds are almost made up, at times lured more by the accompanying toys and gimmicks, that is so fashionable in most fast food outlets today.
The basic question remains: when it comes to food, how do we teach our children to make good and healthy choices. The spectrum ranges from a potentially poisonous food, to one is which clean but unhealthy. The answer lies in a strong educational foundation and practical understanding about the value of foods, and good eating habits. It is only when grounded with such aspects can they begin to make informed decisions and begin to discern which foods and hence eateries should be patronised.
In attempting to arrive at this level of awareness, what better ways if not to start at the very early stage in the schooling life when habits are yet to be ingrained. In this context, canteens and cafeteria at all educational institutions, at least, must be prompted to play a vital "new" role geared up to meet with the new "educational" demands. They must not only blindly follow directives but be motivated enough to sensitise and acculturate their customers with the correct attitudes in support of good eating habits and hygiene. There is nothing like "education" in the fullest sense of the word in bringing about the reduction in the number of food poisoning incidences in schools, and at the same time a new breed of well cultivated Malaysians. We are after all, what we eat.
