THE Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) Municipal Food and Hygiene/Abattoir Department served a closure notice, Wednesday, on Jap’s Halall Meat Market, at Lot 56 Robb Street, Lacytown.

The closing followed a raid, last week, during which a quantity of tainted beef was seized from the business place.
Acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba had said, at a City Hall press briefing on Wednesday, that shops, butcheries and supermarkets, where meat is being sold just like at market stalls, need to follow certain procedures in order to operate.
She added that the recent incident in which the M&CC, armed with a search warrant and accompanying police presence, was warranted because the shop was unlicensed and unregistered.
Sooba said M&CC Chief Meat and Food Inspector Jagdeep Singh has since confirmed that the confiscated merchandise was destroyed after being found unfit for human consumption and uncertified for sale.
She declared that the municipality did what it had to do but she was advised that, although notification to close the business had been served, up to yesterday it was still open.

FURTHER STEPS
Sooba said Singh will offer advice on further steps the Council will have to take, and in the coming days his department would conduct an exercise, involving health officers and others, in the various city markets.
The operation, ahead of the upcoming holiday season, is to ensure meats sold are fit for human consumption and certified to be sold.
Singh said that any shop, where meat is being sold must be inspected, issued certificates and an M&CC marking will be stamped on it, without which would result in seizure and destruction.
He stated that the M&CC has embarked on a rigid campaign in the capital where some surveillance is being done to make sure people are eating safe meat from shops, butcheries and supermarkets.
Singh said they are also looking at how meat is being prepared and stored at those locations. He also warned that failing to meet the minimum requirements by the city by-laws will result in confiscation and destruction.