City Hall intensifies inspection of food establishments in the city

Jun 06, 2010 News

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– several not complying with rules and regulations
Several purported reputable food establishment in the city have not been complying with basic public health and sanitation rules and regulations as prescribed by the Municipal Act Chapter 28:01. This state of affairs has been duly amplified by the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) following inspections carried out on Friday at several city establishments by the Municipal Medical Officer of Health, Dr Bizuayehu Jeffrey and a team of officials. In a statement issued by Public Relations Officer, Royston King, having visited several restaurants operating in the city, Dr Jeffrey in her report deduced that “many big food establishments that offer foods for sale to the general public have not been complying with basic public health and sanitation rules and regulations.”
It was also detailed in the report that in one case, staffers preparing foods were scantily dressed. In another case, a restaurant with over 100 employees had only one cook with the appropriate food handler’s certificate. “These are very serious violations of the rules because they put at risk the health of citizens.”
“The Municipality is very disappointed with the actions of the owners of those establishments. Therefore, they were advised to put themselves in order and comply with the regulations,” King disclosed. Accordingly, the Municipality is calling on all owners of restaurants and provision shops that operate in the city to ensure that they meet all the appropriate requirements.
Additionally, he revealed that those persons who are desirous of engaging in the sale of food should contact the Public Health Department of the Municipality situated at South Road, Georgetown. Those who neglect to comply will in fact face prosecution, King asserted.
A few months ago the Municipality announced plans to possibly resume the grading of restaurants and food processing facilities in the city in an attempt to ensure that citizens are afforded only wholesome foods.  King at that point revealed that this measure was utilised in the past and had yielded much success. However, with the phasing out of this measure, it has been observed that the standards of some food establishments have considerably depreciated over the years.
“We did this because we recognised the need for citizens to know how well their restaurants are doing in terms of providing wholesome foods for them. So perhaps we need to look at restarting the process of grading these eating places,” he noted.
According to King, this matter should have been brought to the attention of the Medical Officer of Health, whose purview it is to initiate the proposed move. However, in the interim, the Municipality through its Meat and Food Inspectorate has been investigating various eating establishments. But though this has been a routine practice, it has been somewhat inconsistent due to the shortage of staff and other resources.
“We have been trying our best under the circumstances but we have been getting some complaints about certain restaurants in the city and we are taking action,” King revealed.
Hotels that are known for preparing foods will also come under scrutiny, Chief Vector Control Officer, Kenneth Stephens had revealed. According to him, his department is engaged in a yearly exercise to conduct inspection activities of hotels around the city, adding that while there are some facilities that are on par with international standards, there are some barely on the borderline. The purpose of this annual engagement, he said, is to ensure that these facilities are registered and certified once they reach the minimum public health requirement as outlined by the Municipality. As such Stephens warned that owners of hotels, guesthouses and apartment buildings around the city should cooperate with the Municipality by paying their registration fees once they have been given approval to operate.
The call for the grading of eating places comes on the heels of attempts by the Municipality to halt the operation of food and fruit vendors who do not comply with hygienic rules and regulations. These vendors, according to King, will come under the microscope in a matter of weeks, as the Municipality is currently streamlining a massive campaign aimed at stamping out all operations that do not comply with the relevant requirements needed to undertake a food business. To this end an emergency meeting was engaged earlier this year by the Municipality’s Medical Officer of Health. King said that during that meeting concerns about the way foods are currently being prepared and sold in various parts of the city were expressed by the Medical Officer.

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