From January 1, 2012…
– Ramsammy announces
THE authorities will no longer be charitable to vendors who are not in possession of  certificates to sell food, come January 1, 2012.
Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy made the announcement while addressing the opening, yesterday, of a two-day seminar for operators of day-care centres and school canteens, on the importance of food nutrition and security, at Ocean View International Hotel, Liliendaal,Greater Georgetown. He said, over the years, much flexibility has been exercised but, in future, no lenience will be shown in shutting down businesses that are not up to date with the health policy.
“No one in Guyana can say that this is a surprise move. If you don’t have a food vendor’s certificate, we will close you down. No one can say the minister and his officers have been inflexible, because we have been talking about this for years,” Ramsammy pointed out.
He said it is through this warning that the ministry is hoping to have a positive feedback from the population, noting that every effort will  also be made to ensure that the food vendor’s certificate is a requirement that would not be ignored in this regard.
“In addition, there are sanitary and hygiene rules that are to be met and those of you who do not follow, we will have to be inflexible with you,” Ramsammy reiterated to the participants.
The minister assured that programmes will be organised to teach and empower people to operate in hygienic conditions and practise them in every day-care centre and school canteen, among other places throughout the country.
Ramsammy said the seminar is one of the many steps being taken to make sure that the nation’s children are taken care of and become the productive adults they are intended to be.
“This effort is to ensure safe and nutritious food is delivered to our children and sparks a larger drive which will provide safe and nutritious food for our population,” he stated.
Ramsammy explained that eating improper food has proven to be one of the major causes of illnesses around the world and noted, too, that unsafe and non-nutritious foods put people at risk of non-communicable and communicable diseases.
He maintained that the preparation of food is not just to satisy one’s desire but also to build bodies nutritionally. “We want to advise people on nutrition and food but we don’t want to interfere with people’s right to eat.”
According to him: “Two decades ago, we started with the issue of under nutrition and now approximately 20 per cent of our children are overweight. We have to ensure that this disease is confronted.”

HIGH QUALITY
He continued: “We don’t want to stop people from doing what they do but we want people to operate through high quality and we want to assist them to do so at the highest level so that our children will be eating healthy.”
Ramsammy said measures will be implemented to tackle this issue since it poses a major threat to the livelihoods of people.
“This two-day session seeks to ensure children are properly protected and was prompted by the Education Minister, since he bears this as a close interest to his heart, given the impact that food can have on a person’s development,” said Director of the Food and Drug Department, Mrs. Marilyn Collins.
She said the main objectives of the workshop is to provide information on food and safety practices and understanding the basic concepts related to food, because children are susceptible and are at a higher risk to diseases.
“The workshop will focus on ways and means of preparing and handling foods in a way that would not affect the health and well-being of the nation’s children” Collins added.
It will educate the participants on how much of a negative effect inappropriate foods can pose a threat to the lives of people later on in their lives and the need for safety establishments and how non-compliance can have health effects on children.
“We are collaborating with a number of places if we are going to address this issue,” she said.
Meanwhile, Director of the Food Policy Division, Ms. Ninian Blair, said that initiatives have been undertaken to ensure that children have the best start in life since early childhood care is needed for proper development.
Healthy eating can lead to child survival, healthy growth, school readiness and the building of self-esteem among many other things, she observed.
Other aims of the seminar are to promote the health of children using the school canteens and promoting healthy eating from an early age.
“When they start at an early stage, they will be able to grow and develop. In order to establish healthy eating, we must be aware of everything that surrounds it,” she insisted.
Blair said, with this knowledge, awareness will be heightened so that parents and persons providing food can help in the delivery of methods of healthy eating that will make such an impact that it will last a lifetime.
“Unhealthy eating can affect nutritional status of children and we can make the necessary changes needed for our children’s healthy living lifestyle,” she said.