By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterJAMAICANS MAY be at high risk for food-borne illnesses, because of low training and education among scores of local food vendors and handlers, says chief executive officer (CEO) of the Food Hygiene Bureau, Marva Hewitt-Heaven.
She is advocating the speedy setting up of the promised National Food Safety Agency aimed at overseeing all food regulatory and monitoring activities and that food hygiene and safety be included in all school curricula.
"We are high risk, because the systems that should be in place for preventing food borne illnesses are not there," said Mrs Hewitt-Heaven, who describes the Bureau as the regional training centre for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in England.
The Bureau is planning to discuss food-borne illnesses at a two-day International Conference on Food Safety in travel and Tourism scheduled for November 21 and 22, 2002. It will be held at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.
"It's mostly the large organisations which are mobilising the changes. Most of our businesses are small restaurants, cookshops, the vendors of the street sides, school vendors et cetera and these vendors are not exposed to ongoing training. They don't see the need for it outside the mandatory requirement to have food handlers permits," she added. She also expressed concern about what prevention measures were in place to monitor and enforce proper food handling activities in periods between food inspections and training sessions, which, she said, are often done only once per year.
The Ministry of Health declined to officially comment until yesterday, but a source at the Ministry maintained that Jamaica was at no greater risk than any other country. The source said Jamaica has never had much of a problem with food-borne illnesses and that, if anything, was better than most countries because people cook their food for long periods here. The source also said that health officials have reduced, dramatically, any risk by helping various sectors, among them the hotel industry, to implement prevention programmes.
Earlier this year, the Health Ministry had also revamped and is working to standardise the local food handlers certification programme, so that handling permits carry photographs of the holder, as well as the region or parish he or she is from.
Food handlers are also being placed into 14 broad categories for training and monitoring, so new applicants and seasoned professionals such as butchers, street and itinerant vendors, like jerk chicken salesmen, restaurant, snack shop, canteen and processing plants workers, among others, will head back to school to get formal training.
Health officials said in March that the main objective was to prevent or reduce the prevalence of food-borne illnesses attributable to poor food preparation, handling and vending operations. The Ministry also wants to improve the standard of food handling and standardise and regularise the procedures involved.
But there is still work to be done. According to the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), although food-borne illness was frequent and there are huge numbers of cases, there was still a high level of underreporting in some countries.
Between 1995 and 1998, there were 3,198 outbreaks of food-borne diseases that caused 102,842 cases and 219 deaths in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, PAHO said, using data from Peru, Uruguay and the United States to show the massive economic toll that it can take on countries despite the fact that it can be easily prevented.
PAHO said that the frequency of food-borne illnesses, the need to guarantee food quality and safety, and the obligation to meet commitments derived from international standards and for the food trade have prompted the countries of the region to review policies, design strategies and strengthen their food protection programmes.
However, the health organisation stressed that the role of individuals and communities is irreplaceable.
It urges persons to select foods, such as pasteurised milk, that have been processed to eliminate contamination.
- Cook food well.
- Consume what is cooked immediately.
- Put away carefully cooked food and avoid its contact with raw foods.
- Food that has been cooked should be reheated well.
- Wash hands often
- Maintain scrupulously clean all areas of the kitchen.
- Keep food away from insects, rodents, and animals in general.
- Utilise pure water.
Bacterial contamination of food is one of the principal causes of diarrheal diseases and infant mortality, PAHO said.
