Malaysia Food Handler Course cheat sheet

Food Act 1983 is the parent statute; the Food Regulations 1985 made under it set compositional, labelling and hygiene requirements for food sold in Malaysia.

Food Hygiene Regulations 2009 (in force 28 February 2009) replaced the earlier hygiene rules and cover food premises, food handlers, equipment, transport and serving.

Under Food Hygiene Regulations 2009, a food handler must be vaccinated against typhoid and hold a valid Food Handler Training Certificate; both are enforced at premises licensing.

Premises licensing and food handler health certification are administered by the District Health Office (Pejabat Kesihatan Daerah) under the Ministry of Health Malaysia.

Local authorities (PBT) license food premises for trade under the Local Government Act 1976 and by-laws, separate from MOH hygiene registration.

Regulation 9 of the Food Hygiene Regulations 2009 requires food handlers to be medically examined and to hold a valid health certificate; carriers of foodborne disease may be barred from handling food.

Penalties under the Food Act 1983 include fines and imprisonment; general penalty provisions allow fines up to RM10,000 or imprisonment up to 2 years for offences without a specified penalty.

Food premises must be registered with MOH; operating an unregistered premises is an offence, and closure orders can be issued for serious hygiene failures.

Halal certification is administered by JAKIM under the Trade Descriptions (Certification and Marking of Halal) Order 2011; halal claims without certification are an offence.

A food handler is any person who prepares, handles, packages, transports, stores or serves food, or who touches food-contact surfaces and equipment.

Core duty: keep hands, body, clothing and personal habits clean; report illness to the supervisor before starting work and remain off food duties while symptomatic.

Food handlers must not handle food if suffering from typhoid, cholera, hepatitis A, dysentery, diarrhoea, vomiting, or infected skin lesions on exposed areas.

Food handlers must wear clean, light-coloured, washable protective clothing, a head covering and, where required, a face mask covering nose and mouth.

Supervisors and premise owners are responsible for providing training, vaccination, health screening, handwashing facilities, and enforcing hygiene rules.

Food handlers must not smoke, spit, chew, eat or drink in food handling areas, and must not wear jewellery or watches on hands and wrists.

Food handlers must cover cuts with waterproof dressings, preferably brightly coloured and detectable, and report any wound to the supervisor.

Food handlers must follow the premises' food safety program, including temperature logs, cleaning schedules and HACCP controls relevant to their station.

Handwashing: wet hands, apply soap, rub palms, backs, between fingers and under nails for at least 20 seconds, rinse, dry with single-use towel or air dryer.

Hands must be washed before starting work, after toilet use, after handling raw food, after touching face/hair/phone, after cleaning, and after handling waste.

Short, unvarnished nails and no nail polish or artificial nails; nailbrushes are used only for hands, not for food-contact surfaces.

Exclusion rule: a food handler with diarrhoea or vomiting must be excluded from food handling until 48 hours symptom-free, and longer if a pathogen is confirmed.

Typhoid vaccination is required; it is not fully protective, so hygiene practices remain mandatory even after vaccination.

Clean outer clothing, hair restrained, no coughing or sneezing over food; cough into elbow or tissue and rewash hands.

Cuts and abrasions must be covered with a waterproof dressing plus, where appropriate, a detectable blue plaster and a glove over the affected hand.

Personal items such as phones, bags and cigarettes must be kept away from food handling areas to prevent contamination.

Biological hazards: bacteria (Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli O157, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens, Bacillus cereus), viruses (norovirus, hepatitis A) and parasites.

Chemical hazards: cleaning chemicals, pesticides, veterinary drug residues, mycotoxins (aflatoxin), allergens, and heavy metals such as lead and mercury.

Physical hazards: glass, metal, plastic, bone, stones, hair, jewellery, and pests or their droppings.

High-risk foods are protein-rich, moist and near-neutral pH: meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, eggs, cooked rice, and prepared salads.

Bacillus cereus: emetic type from cooked rice left at room temperature; fried rice syndrome; keep rice hot above 60°C or cool rapidly.

Clostridium perfringens: spore-former in stews and gravies held warm for long periods; keep hot food above 60°C and cool rapidly below 5°C.

Staphylococcus aureus: carried on skin and nose; toxin is heat-stable, so reheating does not destroy it; prevent by no bare-hand contact with cooked food.

Norovirus and hepatitis A spread by faecal-oral route and infected handlers; exclusion of ill handlers and handwashing are the main controls.

Aflatoxin is a heat-stable mycotoxin produced by Aspergillus flavus in peanuts, maize and nuts; control by sourcing from approved suppliers and proper dry storage.

Cross-contamination is transfer of pathogens from raw to ready-to-eat food, or from surfaces, equipment, hands, cloths or pests to food.

Separate raw and cooked/ready-to-eat foods in storage, preparation and display; raw food stored below cooked food to prevent drip contamination.

Colour-coded chopping boards and utensils (commonly red for raw meat, green for vegetables, yellow for cooked food) reduce cross-contamination.

Clean and sanitise food-contact surfaces and utensils between raw and ready-to-eat use; two-stage cleaning: clean with detergent, then sanitise.

Use separate or freshly laundered cloths; dirty wiping cloths are a known vehicle for cross-contamination.

Handwashing between handling raw food and ready-to-eat food is mandatory; gloves are not a substitute for handwashing.

Store food covered and off the floor; prevent drips from raw meat, poultry and seafood onto other foods.

Separate storage of cleaning chemicals from food and packaging; never store chemicals in unlabelled food containers.

Danger zone is 5°C to 60°C; keep cold food at or below 5°C and hot food at or above 60°C.

Two-hour/four-hour rule: ready-to-eat food in the danger zone for less than 2 hours may be refrigerated; 2–4 hours may be used immediately; over 4 hours discard.

Receiving checks: temperature, packaging integrity, use-by dates, pest evidence, and supplier approval; reject frozen food showing thaw-reflow ice crystals.

Cooling rule: cool cooked food from 60°C to 21°C within 2 hours, then to 5°C within a further 4 hours (total 6 hours).

Reheating: reheat to at least 74°C within 2 hours; reheat only once and never reheat in a bain-marie.

Cooking temperatures: poultry and stuffed meat to 74°C core; whole cuts of beef/pork to 63°C; fish to 63°C or until opaque and flaking.

Thaw food in a refrigerator at or below 5°C, under running potable water, or in a microwave followed by immediate cooking; never thaw at room temperature.

Storage: dry store below 25°C, away from sunlight, off the floor on pallets, with stock rotation (FIFO/FEFO).

Freezer storage should be at −18°C or colder; monitor with calibrated thermometers and record temperatures regularly.

Cleaning removes visible soil; sanitising reduces microorganisms to a safe level; the sequence is clean, rinse, sanitise, air-dry.

Detergents lift soil; sanitisers must be used at the manufacturer's concentration and contact time; food-contact surfaces must be rinsed if required.

Chlorine sanitiser commonly used at 100–200 ppm for food-contact surfaces; test strips verify concentration.

Clean-as-you-go and a written cleaning schedule (what, when, who, chemicals, concentration) are required under GMP/HACCP.

Pest control: proofing (screens, door sweeps, air curtains), housekeeping, waste management and monitoring (bait stations, traps, sightings log).

Signs of pest activity: droppings, gnaw marks, grease smears, live or dead insects, nesting material, and unusual odours.

Pesticides must be applied by trained personnel, never during food handling, and food must be removed or covered; chemicals stored separately with labels.

Clean food-contact surfaces and utensils after each use and at least every 4 hours in continuous use, or more often if contaminated.

Premises design should follow a linear workflow: receiving → storage → preparation → cooking → cooling → service, to prevent cross-contamination.

Floors, walls and ceilings must be smooth, impervious, washable and light-coloured; junctions coved to prevent dirt traps.

Handwash basins must be separate from food preparation sinks, supplied with potable hot and cold water, soap and single-use towels.

Adequate ventilation and lighting are required; light fittings over food should be shatterproof or shielded.

Equipment must be food-grade, smooth, non-absorbent, easy to clean and in good repair; damaged equipment must be replaced or repaired.

Waste: food waste stored in covered, pest-proof bins, emptied frequently; waste areas kept away from food storage and preparation.

Waste containers must be labelled and cleaned; waste must not accumulate in food handling areas.

Toilets must not open directly into food rooms; there must be a lobby or self-closing door and separate handwashing facilities.

HACCP has seven principles: hazard analysis, CCP identification, critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification, and record keeping.

A CCP is a step where control is essential to prevent, eliminate or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level.

Critical limits are measurable values (e.g., 74°C core temperature, pH 4.6, 100 ppm chlorine) that separate acceptable from unacceptable.

Prerequisite programs (GMP, SSOP) provide the foundation for HACCP: premises, pest control, cleaning, personal hygiene, training, supplier approval.

Verification confirms the HACCP plan works (audits, calibration, product testing); validation confirms the controls are scientifically effective.

Halal assurance requires: halal-certified ingredients, separate utensils and storage from non-halal, no contamination with najis, and documented traceability.

JAKIM administers Malaysia's halal certification; MS1500:2019 is the Malaysian halal food standard.

Records must be kept and retained (commonly at least 2 years) for monitoring, corrective actions, training and supplier verification.