What the Food Hygiene Regulations 2009 ask of the premises itself, turned into a checklist you can use before the first tile goes down.
In Malaysia the physical rules for a food premises come from the Food Hygiene Regulations 2009: floors and walls must be impervious, washable and easy to clean, wall-floor angles coved where needed, ceilings finished so they do not shed or grow mould, doors smooth and self-closing, hand-wash basins with non-hand-operated taps kept separate from food-washing sinks, toilets that do not open directly onto food rooms, and kitchen drains fitted with a food trap. The premises must also be registered and kept free of pests. Your local council’s permit and inspection sit on top of this, so design the layout to these clauses before any finishes go in.
Two sets of rules meet in a food fit-out. The first is the Food Hygiene Regulations 2009, made under the Food Act 1983 and enforced by the Ministry of Health. Part III sets out what the premises itself must be like: its location, general design, finishes, lighting, ventilation, basins, toilets, storage and drainage. The regulations also require food premises to be registered, and they give health officers the power to require structural alteration, repair, renovation, plumbing or drainage work within a set time.
The second is the local council: the food premises and business permit, signboard permit and, for most fit-outs, a renovation approval. Councils publish their own checklists. This page follows the national regulations clause by clause, because those are what an inspector will measure your finishes and layout against wherever you are. Our commercial renovation permit guide covers the council side.
| Element | What the regulations require | What it means in the fit-out |
|---|---|---|
| General design | Designed and built to make cleaning and disinfection easy | No dust traps, open gaps or hard-to-reach corners behind fixed equipment |
| Location | Away from contamination such as septic tanks and waste disposal sites | Check the surroundings before you sign the lease |
| Floors | Impervious, non-absorbent, washable, non-toxic, adequately drained | A sealed floor laid to falls towards the drains |
| Walls | Impervious, washable, smooth to a height suited to the process | Tiles, stainless cladding or a washable panel behind wet and hot areas |
| Wall-floor angle | Sealed and coved where necessary | A coved skirting instead of a square corner |
| Ceilings | No dirt build-up or shedding; reduce condensation and mould | A sealed, washable ceiling, not an open grid over food areas |
| Doors | Easily cleaned, smooth, non-absorbent and self-closing | Door closers on kitchen and store doors |
| Lighting and ventilation | Adequate; airflow must not run from a contaminated area to a clean one | Plan the exhaust and fresh-air path with the layout |
| Wash-basins | Enough of them, for hand washing only, non-hand-operated taps | Knee, elbow or sensor taps, placed where staff work |
| Toilets | Must not open directly into food storage, production or serving rooms | A lobby or corridor between toilet and kitchen |
| Drainage | Smooth, fitted with a food trap, connected to the main outlet drain | Stainless channel drains and a grease trap before the main drain |
The regulations are specific here. There must be an adequate number of wash-basins, suitably located and designated for washing hands. Each must have running water, soap or liquid detergent in a dispenser, paper towels or an automatic hand dryer, and taps that are not hand-operated. And there must be separate basins for washing hands and washing food.
In layout terms that means the hand basin is a plumbing point in its own right, not the corner of the prep sink. Put one at the kitchen entrance and one near each station where staff switch between raw and cooked food. Knee-operated, foot-pedal, elbow-lever and sensor taps all meet the no-hands requirement; sensor taps need a power point planned before the wall is tiled.
Floors must be impervious, non-absorbent, washable and non-toxic, and adequately drained. That rules out bare concrete and most timber-look finishes in the kitchen. A floor laid to falls towards channel drains is what makes daily wash-down possible; a flat floor leaves water standing at the cookline.
Walls follow the same rule, with a smooth surface up to a height appropriate for the food process. Behind the cooking range and the wash-up, stainless cladding is common because it has no grout lines to hold grease. Where a wall meets the floor, the angle must be sealed and coved where necessary, which in practice means a coved skirting rather than a square tiled corner. Our commercial kitchen setup guide goes further into stainless grades and fabrication.
Ceilings, or the underside of the roof where there is no ceiling, must be built and finished so they do not collect dirt or shed particles, and so they reduce condensation and mould. Over a hot, humid kitchen that points to a sealed, washable ceiling. Exposed services and open lay-in grids over food areas are hard to defend at an inspection.
Doors must be easy to clean, with a smooth non-absorbent surface, and self-closing. Fit door closers to the kitchen, store and toilet lobby doors at the start; they are cheap to install during the fit-out and awkward to add after opening.
A drainage facility in a kitchen or food preparation area must be made of smooth material, fitted with a food trap and connected to the main outlet drain. Drainage channels must be fully or partially open and designed so waste does not flow from a contaminated area towards a clean area. The fall of the floor and the direction of the channels therefore have to follow the kitchen’s clean-to-dirty flow.
Councils add their own grease-trap requirement for premises that cook. Our grease trap guide and commercial drainage and grating guide cover sizing, access and upkeep.
There must be an adequate number of toilets with running water, toilet paper, soap in a dispenser and a hand-drying facility at all times, kept clean and free of odour. The layout rule is the one that shapes shop plans: a toilet must not open directly into any room used to store, produce or serve food. A small lobby with its own self-closing door solves it. A changing room for food handlers is required where necessary.
Every food premises needs a suitable storeroom, with separate storage for raw materials and for processed food. Stored food is kept at least 15 cm from the wall and 20 cm above the floor, which decides the depth and height of shelving. Where food is chilled or frozen, raw and processed food need separate refrigerated storage, the inner lining must be smooth, impervious, light-coloured and easy to clean, and any temperature-recording device must be accurate to plus or minus 1°C. A walk-in cold room must have an air curtain or similar on its doors. See our cold room guide.
The regulations put the duty on the proprietor to keep the premises free from pests at all times and to act at once when pests appear. Clutter that gives pests cover is itself an offence under the cleanliness clause. Refuse must be removed from food rooms as soon as possible, held in closable containers that can be cleaned, and stored in a refuse area that can be kept clean and free of animals and pests.
In the fit-out, pest-proofing is mostly about gaps: sealed service penetrations, no hollow boxing behind counters, door closers and a defined bin store. A scheduled treatment and its records are covered in our commercial pest control contract guide.
Most of the clauses reduce to one principle: food and air move from dirty to clean, never back. The regulations say so directly for ventilation airflow and for drainage channels, and the same logic governs the order of rooms.
| Zone | Sits next to | Key fit-out points |
|---|---|---|
| Goods in and raw storage | Back door, bin store | Separate raw store; shelving off the floor and wall |
| Preparation | Raw storage, hand basin | Food sink separate from the hand basin |
| Cooking | Preparation, exhaust hood | Stainless cladding, channel drain, hood and ducting |
| Wash-up | Returns from dining | Drain with food trap; flow away from the clean side |
| Serving and dining | Cooking pass | Washable finishes near service; toilets via a lobby |
Settle this plan before choosing finishes. Moving a drain or a basin after the floor is laid is the most expensive change in a food fit-out. For the ducting side, see our kitchen exhaust and ducting guide.
A food premises fit-out touches plumbing, drainage, tiling, stainless work, ceilings and doors at once. ClickBina is an experienced KL & Selangor contractor that handles whole-house refurbishment and coordinates the trades on one job. WhatsApp us your job details for a quote: the unit size, the type of food business and whether it is a shoplot or mall unit. We reply within the hour, the price we agree is a flat price with no hidden charges, and a site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead.
Note: this is a plain-language summary to plan a layout. Your local council and health office may add requirements; confirm with them before you build.
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