While the market reopens on Saturday, chicken traders are only scheduled to return on July 1 as the market space needed upkeep and repair works.
There will be no chicken or other livestock slaughtering in the PJ Old Town wet market, said Petaling Jaya City Council’s Ermee Marianna Saadon today.
“There will not be any slaughtering of chickens or any livestock because this has posed a serious hygienic problem.
“If we look at the acts and law, small animals are not supposed to be slaughtered (in markets) and livestock should not be kept in business premises.
“So, the city council stands firm with its decision that there will not be any live slaughtering,” the councillor said.
The wet market in Jalan Othman will resume business on Saturday, nearly two months after being closed due to the discovery of Covid-19 cases there.
Traders at the Medan Selera food court will be allowed to open for business with a set standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place.
“Some 300 traders will benefit from this reopening while the rest of the operators will need to meet certain criteria before they are allowed to resume business,” she said.
The market has been closed since April 27 after the discovery of 26 Covid-19 infections.
Ermee said only post-slaughtered and processed chickens will be allowed to be sold in the market.
Traders have been told to find alternative places to slaughter and process their chickens.
“Approval has been given to traders to sell chickens that have already been slaughtered and cleaned.
“In the meantime, they need to find a place to process the chicken. They have to slaughter and clean it there, and they also need to get approval from the relevant agencies, like Jakim and so on.
“This will be the new normal. This will prevent the market from being unhygienic,” she said.
Ernee said while the market reopens on Saturday, chicken traders are only scheduled to return on July 1 as the market space needed upkeep and repair works.
She also revealed that 46 traders did not attend Covid-19 screenings conducted at the wet market.
She added licences will be revoked for those who did not submit the test or dialogue session with MBPJ.
The errant traders, she said, will need to provide documentations to prove they tested negative for Covid-19 before they are allowed to return to the market.
“Only three from the 46 produced documentation on the Covid-19 test.
“There are 43 people who have not taken any action. We acknowledge the seriousness of the Covid-19 issue and we will not compromise on this.”