— Government Analyst Food and Drug Department survey finds

THE storage and preparation of food in the city and other parts of the country leave much to be desired, according to a recent Government Analyst Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) survey.

The survey found that a high percentage of food establishments are practising poor hygiene and poor storage in their preparation of foods, thereby putting consumers at risk of falling ill.

GA-FDD released the statistics on Tuesday following a six-month survey, which ended in March, 2019. In making the disclosure, Director of the Food and Drug Department, Marlan Cole, explained that the survey covered 55 randomly selected food service establishments in Region Four, between Georgetown and Timehri; and Region Six, between New Amsterdam and Corentyne.

The survey was intended to determine levels of compliance of the food service industry with existing sanitary regulatory requirements.

“Operating procedures in the establishments were assessed using an inspection checklist and samples were taken and submitted for microbiological analysis. Micro-organisms of interest were E.coli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus,” Cole further explained. The inspection checklist assessed six areas: food storage, cold storage, food preparation, sanitation, garbage disposal and employee hygiene.

Based on the survey conducted from September 2018 to March 2019, only 25 per cent of the facilities practised adequate food storage, while 34 per cent of the facilities had satisfactory cold storage. Seventy-eight (78) per cent of the food establishments had no functioning temperature monitoring device (thermometer).

“In regard to food preparation, only 18 per cent effectively protected the food from contamination, whilst a mere 11 per cent practised meat thawing safely. Food handlers in only 13 per cent of establishments used gloves. As it relates to sanitation, only four per cent of the establishment’s workers were observed applying the correct principles of cleaning and sanitising [dishwashing)]” Cole detailed.

The Food and Drug Department Director, however, noted that the statistics show that there was adequate external garbage disposal present in 73 per cent of establishments, but only 56 per cent had adequate temporary internal garbage disposal. With regard to employees’ hygiene, only 20 per cent practised hand- washing correctly, and in 42 per cent of the establishments, workers used no hair nets.

Microbiological samples were taken of the food; from workers hands (swabs), from food-contact surfaces, from food-service containers, and air quality.

ALARMING
“Of the 99 food samples submitted, 37 per cent was unsatisfactory and of the 102 hands of workers that were swabbed after washing, 47 per cent were unsatisfactory,” Cole reported.
With regard to food-contact surfaces – cutting boards and utensils – 30 per cent of the 125 surfaces swabbed after cleaning and/or sanitising were unsatisfactory.

Forty six per cent of the 48 food-service containers (food boxes) sampled were unsatisfactory. The air quality in the majority of establishments was generally satisfactory, since 95 per cent of the 64 air-quality samples taken were satisfactory.

It was noted that the high percentage of unsatisfactory foods may be as a result of cross-contamination. Cross-contamination, the director of the Food and Drug Department explained, can stem from unsatisfactory food-storage conditions, unsatisfactory thawing practices, inadequate cleaning or sanitising of food-contact surfaces and workers’ hands.
“High microbial contamination of food-contact surfaces and the hands of workers can be as a result of the incorrect or inadequate methods used to clean and sanitise workers hands and food-contact surfaces. Food handlers were generally unaware of the difference between the process of cleaning to remove dirt and sanitising to kill bacteria,” Cole said.

UNCOVERED BINS
Additionally, he said inadequate temporary garbage disposal (uncovered bins) inside processing areas may suggest why insect infestation (flies and cockroaches) was observed in many food-service establishments.

The Food and Drug Department Director said too that garbage disposal in proximity to the processing area(s) may also result in cross-contamination.

“Lastly, employees’ hygiene was generally adequate, except for the practices employed after hand-washing which may have led to re-contamination of the hands. This ultimately called into question the knowledge of food handlers on the correct method employed to effect proper hand-washing and the availability of adequate hand-washing facilities,” he said.

The survey was conducted by analytical scientific officers attached to the GA-FDD’s Food Laboratory in collaboration with food inspectors of the GA-FDD, public health officers’ from the city and municipalities, environmental health officers (EHOs) of the region and port health officers.

It was noted that in 2015, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that 1 in 10 or approximately 600 million persons fall ill each year after consuming contaminated food, with approximately 420,000 deaths.

Children aged five and under account for approximately 30 per cent or 125, 000 of those deaths. Cole said the WHO estimates suggest that more than half or 550 million illnesses result from diarrhoeal disease.

“In the region of the Americas, the Caribbean included, estimates on the burden of food-borne illnesses suggest that 77 million persons fall ill annually as a result of food-borne illness, with approximately 9, 000 deaths and of those, 31 per cent or approximately 2000 are children, five years and under,” he explained.

In Guyana, a 2009 Burden of Illness study, estimated the occurrence of approximately 131,012 cases of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) or diarrhoeal illness annually and each person in Guyana experiences at least one episode of diarrhoea each year.

The findings of the survey were shared with members of the National Food Safety and Control Committee Meeting on Tuesday, May 7, 2019. Members of the Council are expected to take the detailed results and findings to food-service establishments that fall under their purview, and either work collaboratively with proprietors to ensure compliance with sanitary regulations, or to take appropriate action in the very best interest of consumer protection and safety. Cole has assured that analytical scientific officers will continue to expand this exercise to other regions and municipalities.