GEORGE TOWN: In an effort to ensure the unique local taste and flavour of Penang's renowned hawker fare is retained, the state executive council will ban foreigners from becoming "main cooks" at hawker stalls, said Lim Guan Eng.
The Chief Minister said all hawkers operating from coffee shops, hawker complexes, shopping mall food courts, as well as those in the streets, must ensure that only locals are employed to cook local delicacies.
He said hawkers would be given a one-year grace period starting from Jan 1, 2015, to enable hawkers to adjust to the new ruling.
"This will be done in stages, not immediately.
"We will also insert in this condition in their licence. Failure to abide by it will result in action being taken," he told a press conference in Komtar, Friday.
State Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said that all hawkers would have to abide by the ruling by Jan 1, 2016.
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