93% of water dispensing machines in Perak have no health ministry licence

Water dispensing machines that had been approved and licensed will have a health ministry sticker on them.

IPOH: The Perak Health Department has found that 93% of water dispensing machines in the state are without a health ministry licence.

Its director, Dr Ding Lay Ming, said that of the 860 machines in the state, only 61 had licences while 119 were in the process of applying for licences.

There was “low” awareness among the people and the companies that operated the machines on the importance of consuming clean drinking water with the ministry’s licence, she said after inspecting a machine outside a laundry shop at Bercham.

“This is because unlicensed machines are likely to be vulnerable to microorganisms that could contaminate and affect the water quality.”

She said that any water dispensing machine that has been approved and licensed would have a health ministry sticker on it.

Ding said that under Regulation 360c of the Food Regulations 1985, water from dispensing machines had to undergo filtration, osmosis, distillation, ionisation or equivalent processes and disinfection.

She added that operators of the machines which were without a licence would be given 14 days to do so from today.

Should they fail to do so, the state Health Department would issue a notice under Section 32B of the Food Act 1983 with a compound fine of RM2,000.

“Those who fail to pay the fine could have their case brought to court and could face a maximum fine of RM10,000 or two years in jail or both,” she said. - FMT