Dateline Southeast Asia

Malaysia must end 24-hour dining to curb obesity crisis

By RJ Whitehead

- Last updated on GMT

Malaysia must end 24-hour dining to curb obesity crisis

Related tags Coffee Food Southeast asia

Malaysians should be sleeping in the early hours of the morning, not eating and watching football at a 24-hour restaurant, according to the president of the Malaysian Association for the Study of Obesity.

Speaking at a conference on the dangers facing the country’s increasingly overweight population, Mohd Ismail Noor said that the government should ban all-hours dining establishments.

“Why do we give Malaysians an option to eat 24 hours? At 3am you should be sleeping, not sitting in mamak restaurants watching Euro Cup,” Prof. Ismail added at the event, which was co-organised by Unicef.

If it’s open, you have an option to go, but if it’s closed, you stay at home.​”

Malaysia has seen an explosion in recent years in the popularity of mamaks​, which are often open-air dining joints that cater mainly to Muslim and Indian diners. Chinese and Western 24-hour restaurants are also very popular, particular in cities.

Prof. Ismail also blamed Malaysian favourites like teh tarik​, a heavily sweetened form of tea, and carbohydrate-laden nasi lamak​, seen by many as the country’s national dish, for an obesity and diabetes crisis.

His call to ban 24-hour restaurants comes a year after Shahidan Kassim, a minister in the prime minister’s department, first raised the subject.

In June 2015, Shahidan submitted a proposal to the deputy prime minister and National Social Council though it was rejected on the grounds that a time limit would inconvenience workers who did not maintain regular office hours.

Earlier this year, health minister S Subramaniam blamed obesity on Malaysia’s food culture. 

He said: “We are very multicultural and we have a great variety of foods and the culture of eating is part and parcel of daily life. The type of food we eat is very high-calorie, and we have to concede we eat more food than we need​.”

Yet critics believe that Malaysia is failing to curb its obesity crisis. One report, released last week, found that most working Malaysians lead largely sedentary lifestyles and got virtually no exercise.

According to the findings of the latest Unicef regional report on nutritional security in Asean countries, more than 7% of Malaysian children under the age of five are overweight. 

Overall, the country is considered to be the most overweight in mainland Asia, with 18% of the population obese and a further 30% overweight, whereas 20 years ago just 4.4% of Malaysians was classed as obese.

More stories from Southeast Asia…

URC Vietnam investigated after officials block sale of drinks due to excess lead

Vietnam’s health ministry has blocked the sale of five containers of green tea and energy drinks manufactured by the local unit of a leading Philippines food and beverage firm, claiming that the products contained excessive amounts of lead.

URC

According to Nguyen Van Nhien, the ministry’s deputy chief inspector, two batches of Universal Robaina Corporation’s C2 lemon green tea and three batches of Rong Do strawberry energy drink were found to have quantities of lead above the permissible level of 0.05mg per litre.

URC Vietnam has subsequently been ordered to submit sales and production reports for the product lines to the ministry and issue a recall.

The inspectorate will look into food safety issues at the company, including the ingredients, additives, water sources and detergents that the company uses to manufacture its beverages.

The investigation follows the leaking of a test report from May 7 which stated that the lead content of a sample of citric acid used by URC Vietnam stood at 0.84mg/kg, sparking concern among consumers as to the safety of C2 and Rong Do.

A representative of URC Vietnam told reporters that it suspected competitors of trying to disrupt its business.

URC is one of the largest consumer food and beverage companies in the Philippines. Its Vietnamese unit is among four major beverage makers to undergo a comprehensive review by the health ministry this year.

The other three companies are Coca-Cola Vietnam, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage, and Wonderfarm, known for such products as winter melon tea, passion fruit drink and bird’s nests.

PFP mulls Malaysia for new seafood processing plant

PFP Group, a major Thai frozen-seafood processor, expects to open a halal food factory in Malaysia after it concludes negotiations with an unnamed local partner.

PFP

Once finalised, the company will set up manufacturing and distribution facilities in the country at a cost of THB150m-200m, to add to its two existing food-processing plants in Thailand that have a capacity of 97 tonnes per day. 

A report in the Nation​ said that PFP was exploring new Muslim markets, especially Indonesia, in line with the government’s policy to make Thailand one of the world’s top five halal food exporters within five years.

"We chose Malaysia as it has strong credibility in the production of halal foods, being recognised by other Muslim countries, rather than Thailand or other non-Muslim countries​," said PFP’s executive director, Thawatchai Ratanapisit.

The group will also gear up for more exports, with the aim of achieving 10% growth annually. Its main markets abroad will be China and Muslim countries, especially Indonesia.

PFP has been shipping processed seafood products, including imitation crab sticks, snow crab, fish tofu, Thai fish cakes, imitation crab claw, and imitation shrimp, worldwide for more than 30 years, and now covers 21 overseas markets.

Thawatchai said that PFP’s international sales last year were worth more than THB1.3bn (US$36m), of which 72% went to Asia.

The company also expects to expand exports to China, its biggest market for crab sticks, once the plant goes online.

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