PETALING JAYA: A food vendor selling deep fried baby crabs was recently caught preparing the crabs in a fly-infested kitchen.
Officers from the Ministry of Trade and Cost of Living together with the Melaka Immigration Department discovered the filthy premises during the Kita Gempur Op on Thursday (Nov 7).
The vendor, a foreign man in his 30s, said he hired workers to fry the baby crabs to be sold later at Jonker Walk, a popular tourist spot, Kosmo! reported.
Further inspections found that the kitchen area to be in a filthy state and fly-infested while the refrigerator used to store other food supplies emitted a foul smell.
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He also said that he usually fries the crabs a day before selling them and stores them in containers.
KPDN officers also noticed the dirty floors in the kitchen, to the point it seems darkened as it has not been cleaned for some time.
Viral videos showed the fried baby crabs kept atop of a bucket on the floor, uncovered and simultaneously exposed to the flies surrounding the area thus leading to diseases.
Meanwhile, KPDN officers also seized 102 packets of subsidised cooking oil and some packets of wheat flour believed to for commercial use following the man’s failure to present a permit to store controlled goods under the Supply Control Act 1961.
The vendor was detained by KPDN Melaka to record his statement.
