By Roy Sanford, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
HEALTH AUTHORITIES have expressed disappointment in a programme that was designed to ensure that all food establishments in western Jamaica be certified. The programme, which began in early February, saw public health inspectors going to food establishments across the west in order to have them certified and to sensitise workers of such establishments on food safety. Operators of food establishments face closure if certain requirements are not met.
"We have been having mixed success from the beginning," Basil McFarlane, acting environmental and health officer for western Jamaica, told The Gleaner. "However, monitoring continues." He said two teams of inspectors are currently in the region but added that a number of persons who own food establishments have been ignoring the call to have them certified. "Moves are being made to take legal action against such persons," he remarked.
He also said many owners of food establishments that have been certified by the health authority refuse to publicly display their certificates, an offence under law. McFarlane appealed to such persons to display their certificates.
Meanwhile, Chief Health Inspector for St. James, Desmond Clarke, has expressed his disappointment with the programme in the parish, claiming that the call by his department for certification has fallen on deaf ears. "We were expecting a lot more," he said. "Unfortunately, the situation remains the same, if not worse right now."
He said that his department has been expecting owners of food establishments, who were supposed to apply for certification to apply and those who are suppose to reapply to reapply, but this has not materialised. "Things have not changed very much," he admitted.
Mr. Clarke is warning that the health department will soon move to close uncertified food establishment in the parish. "We have been closing establishments in a very small way and I know we cannot hold out for much longer," he said. "If they don't (comply), they face the consequences of the regulations, which include closure and/or prosecution."
