About ten years ago, I ordered a pepperoni pizza to be delivered to my home. Upon consuming it, I bit something hard and when spitted out, I found a tiny curved rectangular-shaped particle. I called the restaurant to enquire about the strange object and was informed that it was normal to find small “bone particles” in pepperonis.
Unhappy with the explanation and suspecting that it resembled a tooth more than a bone particle, I brought it to my dentist who later confirmed my suspicion. According to him, it appeared to look like a rodent’s tooth – but of course, he could not say it with 100 percent certainty.
Holding my urge to vomit as I began imagining rat meat in my beef pepperoni, I snapped a few photos and lodged a police report. Next, I contacted the restaurant management and informed them of my findings. After being asked to hold on line and passing through a few people, I was finally requested to surrender the ‘tooth’ in order for an investigation to be conducted.
Two months later, the restaurant informed me that they have completed a thorough investigation on the matter and concluded that the restaurant only serves products of the best quality. There was no mention of the rat’s tooth or bone particles in the letter.
The restaurant did offer me free pizzas to compensate for my “troubles” though – which I declined of course. No more rat pizzas for me!
Rodents are problems everywhere
Growing up, I encountered rats at least a couple of times a week – the big kind. They were regular visitors at my grandparents’ house in Transfer Road, Penang.
Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night was traumatising because that’s when they came lurking under the dim light of the kerosene lamp. A few times I had them sniffing my foot while I squatted to relieve myself. For a five-year-old kid, the fear was real, no joke.
It is a common understanding that rats are attracted to trash and places with food waste. As a kid, I used to think my grandmother’s home-based appam and tosai business was to be blamed for attracting the rats. But as I grew, I noticed how religiously she cleans up the kitchen at the end of every day and the amount of Clorox she’d use to scrub the common area. She definitely took cleanliness as a serious matter. Yet, the rats kept coming.
It was similar back at home in my parents’ house in Bukit Mertajam. Like my grandmother, my mum too takes pride in washing, mopping, and scrubbing the entire house on a daily basis. Seriously, she keeps the place so clean you could even eat straight from the floor. But even in such a clean place, rats continued coming uninvited.
Leaving traps for rats around the house on a daily basis has been a chore for my dad for donkey years. Once in a blue moon, dad would celebrate his successful catch by sending me some pictures – but most of the time, the rats would roam freely, gnawing away at anything they could find.
Dirty restaurants
Recently, a 15-second video showing a rat eating fried chicken placed in a mamak restaurant’s food warmer went viral. Upon investigation by health enforcement officers, the hygiene level of the premises was found unsatisfactory and the restaurant was ordered to be closed and slapped with six compounds.
Following the incident, many netizens took the opportunity to bash mamak restaurants in general for being dirty and unhygienic. Some even vowed never ever to visit a mamak restaurant. I read very long comment threads on the matter with a smirk on my face – I thought they were pretty naïve.
The thing is, many eateries have adopted a lax attitude towards keeping a strict level of cleanliness, not just mamak restaurants.
And quite honestly, we do not have to wait for a rat to show up before labelling a restaurant dirty. Even without rats, a dirty restaurant is a dirty restaurant.
In fact, even the best restaurants in our country could be dealing with rodent issues. We may not be hearing about it because they are smart and proactive. They take necessary measures to control the pest before it becomes a problem.
However, many other restaurants like mamak restaurants tend to be more reactive than proactive. Especially those open for 24 hours, they constantly deal with customers and food preparation, leaving a very small window for thorough cleaning, what more pest control.
Rats live to eat
Rats are very much like us, they want what we want: food, warmth, and a place to have families. If they are able to get all these on the streets, they have no reason to be munching fried chicken on a food warmer where everyone can see them.
In fact, rats don’t like going places where it doesn’t feel safe - that is why they hardly pop up when humans are around.
Rats live to eat. In a dirty environment, rats will always find something to eat. But when it gets hard to find food, the famished creatures would just scramble for new sources of food. They’ll even eat plants, gnaw plastic containers, chew on wires, and even leather products.
During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, there have even been reports of cannibalism among rodents. Like I said, they will always find something to eat.
When rats get really hungry and are unable to find food on the streets, they become grumpy and a bit adventurous. They climb up through wastewater pipes, enter through air ventilation, hide in cracks of the walls or ceiling tiles, and nest anywhere warm inside a building, hoping to find what they couldn’t on the streets.
It doesn’t really matter to them if a place is dirty. They can still make a home in the cleanest places. (Hint: Ratatouille)
Getting rid of rats
People like my grandmother and my parents who have dealt with rats for decades know how difficult it is to get rid of them. You see, rats are extremely clever. You may fix a trap with nice bait, but an experienced rat would just kick the trap until it snaps, eat the bait, and then shit next to it.
And don’t even think about poisoning them, for they can detect poisoned bait easily.
While they roam free, these rats continue to mate and breed. According to the information on pest control websites, a female rat becomes sexually mature at 12 weeks, produces litters of around eight rats, and will mate again within 48 hours of giving birth. In “optimal conditions”, two rats will become 500 million rats within three years.
At the end of the day, nothing we do can prevent rats from breeding and entering our premises. We’re never going to get rid of rats - what we can do though, is to not make it easy for them.
Besides the basic cleanliness and sanitation practices, restaurant owners should reduce clutter as rodents always look for places to seek shelter and breed; keep all types of food whether cooked, uncooked, or leftover in tightly sealed storage containers; stay on top of repair works and plumbing and seal all exterior cracks. Basically, eliminate all possible conditions that would attract rats.
Everyone must do their bit
Municipal officers and health enforcement officers must step up their surveillance. They should not only aim to get rid of rodents, instead ensure overall good hygienic practices. Summon every restaurant with mold in sinks, thick greasy gunk on the stove, clogged-up drains, and improper food waste management.
Organise compulsory training on sanitary practices for those business owners slapped with compounds for violating regulations.
Our enforcement authorities should also have an open policy where they can welcome restaurant owners and listen to the issues faced by them. Municipal offices and health departments should not only be about enforcement, they should also provide advice and assistance.
And then there’s us, the public. Instead of sensationalising news following viral videos of rats in restaurants, how about being proactive and reporting every dirty establishment, dumpster, alley, and street we encounter?
Even with strict regulations and cooperation from every party, we might not be successful in getting rid of the rats entirely. But at least we can try to maintain a better balance. - Mkini
FA ABDUL is a multi-award-winning playwright and director in the local performing arts scene, a published author, television scriptwriter, media trainer, and mother. Her ultimate mission in life is to live out of a small suitcase.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.