Food for pre-schoolers 'stored in toilet'

A Kemas kindergarten in Alor Setar, Kedah, was found to have stored dry food in a toilet, an audit of the Community Development Department’s Additional Food Plan showed.
The auditor-general, in his 2010 report, notes that this as one of several examples of poor sanitation.
"Dry food was also found to have been stored for too long until (the shelf-life) expired. (The items were) exposed to pests and placed beside chemicals such as paint," his report states.
At another kindergarten in Kota Baru, canned food was found covered with cockroach droppings.
The report also found the kindergartens had failed to adhere to the menu and recipes fixed by Kemas headquarters and the Health Ministry in food preparation.

This was discovered at 79 of the 143 kindergartens visited by an auditor.
Delays by Kemas operation centres in distributing dry food to the respective kindergartens had affected food preparation.
Another cause, the report says, was the financial department's failure to reimburse claims for expenditure by kindergartens within 14 days, with one in Gelang Patah taking as long as 66 days.
Kemas, for the second consecutive year failed, to acquire multi-vitamins for pre-schoolers as required by the programme, after its supplier abruptly pulled out, the report says.