GEORGE TOWN: Many are still mystified by a recent poll which ranked Penang third behind Bangkok and Singapore for street food.

However, the Penang Consumer Protection Association president K. Koris believes that VirtualTourist.com might have included hygiene and cleanliness as part of its judging criteria.

“We are nowhere near Singapore in terms of cleanliness,” he said.

He called on the state government to do away with street hawking.

“All hawkers should be placed in proper food courts,” he said, adding that street hawking was one of the least hygienic methods of distributing food.

He said that when it comes to taste, Penang food is the best.

“But it's high time we reviewed the way the food is handled,” Koris added.

He suggested that the state government come up with a masterplan to relocate the street hawkers into food courts or shopping malls.

“They should also have a database of all the hawkers as most of them are not even registered,” he said.

The state's third placing in the “Travel Picks: Top 10 cities for street food” July 21 post has outraged Penangites.

Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said it has been the policy of the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) not to issue street hawking licences any more.

“We no longer issue the temporary hawker site licences. All new hawkers are encouraged to open their stalls in coffee shops, hawker centres or food courts,” he said.

He added that current street hawkers were those who obtained licences decades ago.

“They are part of Penang's heritage and we do conduct regular checks on them,” he said.

Related Story:
Penang does it better

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