Friday, 18 Sep 2020
JOHOR BARU: The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) intends to come up with a mechanism to verify the quality of face masks sold in the country.

Its deputy minister, Datuk Rosol Wahid, said that his ministry is planning to work with the Chemistry Department and the Health Ministry to help the public identify face masks that meet standards necessary to fight Covid-19.

“At the moment, we do not have a proper way to monitor the quality of face masks sold here.

“We will try to come up with the mechanism as soon as possible as it is important for the public to use face masks that actually work,” he said in a press conference after visiting Durio PPE Sdn Bhd, a face mask manufacturing factory in Johor.

He noted that some three-ply face masks sold here have low filtration levels.

“I urge consumers to be aware of the quality of face masks they are buying, and to make a complaint to the ministry if they find anything wrong with the product,” he said.

On a separate matter, Rosol said that there is sufficient supply of face masks in the country currently.

He added that no complaints have been received by the ministry on shortages.

“There are 15 face mask manufacturing factories in the country, with a combined capacity of producing 100 million face masks in a month, on average.

“So we do not have to worry about shortage of the item,” he said.

Earlier, the deputy minister joined a KPDNHEP operation to check 220 business premises at Pasar Awam Larkin.

“To date, the ministry has conducted a total of 3,712 checks on business premises selling face masks in Johor.

“We have also received 174 complaints from the public related to face masks in the state,” he said.

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/09/18/quality-of-face-masks-will-be-monitored-soon