Germ Buster Challenge promotes food safety awareness among students
TAWAU (June 20): Food poisoning is a recurring issue in schools nationwide, caused by various factors. These include food handlers who do not practice personal hygiene, unclean premises, and unsafe food handling and storage.
Additionally, the lack of the 'Look, Smell and Taste' practice among students before consuming food also contributes to such incidents.
On June 14, the Food Safety and Quality Division of the Sabah State Health Department, in collaboration with the Tawau District Health Office and the Tawau District Education Office, organized the State-Level Germ Buster Challenge Programme 2025 at Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanjung Batu Keramat, Tawau. The event was officiated by deputy director of the Sabah State Health Department, Sitti Aralas
A total of 361 students and 28 teachers from 11 primary schools in the Tawau district participated in the programme.
According to Sitti Aralas, this programme targets primary school students with the main objective of educating them on food hygiene and safety through interactive and fun activities to effectively convey the message. The two main components of the programme were an Explorace Competition themed around food hygiene and safety, as well as a food safety and hygiene talk.
The challenging and informative Explorace competition crowned Sekolah Kebangsaan Tanjung Batu Keramat as the champion, while Sekolah Kebangsaan Jambatan Putih secured second place, and Sekolah Kebangsaan Holy Trinity took third place.
The Food Safety and Quality Division of the Sabah State Health Department hopes that through this programme, awareness and knowledge among school communities will be enhanced regarding the importance of personal hygiene, cleanliness and food safety to prevent food poisoning incidents in schools.
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