Malaysia’s Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) has released a statement regarding a viral story about a “pisang goreng” (fried banana) vendor who allegedly used construction plaster in his batter to “make it crunchier”. The allegations first came when a passerby/customer snapped a photo of his stall, and a bag of construction plaster was seen lying by the roadside.
The vendor’s struggle with viral story was also highlighted in a news article titled “Rezeki terjejas kerana tular palsu” (Translation: Livelihood affected due to false accusation), that was published in Sinar Harian yesterday (Tuesday, 15th August 2017).
The vendor, who goes by the name Amir Mohamed Yatim, operates a stall near Columbia City Hospital in Puchong, Selangor. “The rumours that I was using construction plaster in my batter has spread so far and wide that the entire Malaysia has come to know about it. Even my wife’s aunt has called to ask if it’s true that we used the ingredient in our ‘pisang goreng’,” he said.
Amir, who has been operating his stall for about a month, lodged a police report, while MOH (through their Food Safety and Quality Division) conducted an investigation on the case, as well as his stall. According to MOH, the results of the investigation showed that the flour was supplied by a factory in Kuala Lumpur, which had mistakenly used the construction plaster wrapping to pack the flour.
As such, MOH has ordered the factory to recall all flour packets that have been packed with construction plaster wrapping from the market.
Meanwhile, Amir has been advised by the authorities to not operate his “pisang goreng” stall without a license.
Sources: Bernama, Astro Awani / Featured image: MOH.
