THE Ministry of Health is preparing to launch an aggressive “reinforcement” campaign to seize and remove food items, which have been illegally packaged, by businesses that have not been certified to package foods.

This was disclosed by Director of the Health Ministry’s Food and Drug Unit, Marlan Cole, in an interview with this publication yesterday, and it comes in light of reports being made to the department about the sale of contaminated grocery.

It was reported yesterday that, on various occasions, cockroach parts were found in sugar purchased at shops in an East Coast Demerara location. The department’s view is that: “It is distressing when you spend monies in a ‘goods not returnable’ shop and buy contaminated grocery which, if consumed, can cause you to become infected with something dangerous to health, even deadly”.

Credible online health journals reveal that certain proteins (called allergens) which are found in cockroach faeces, saliva and body parts cause allergic reactions and trigger asthmatic symptoms, especially in children. Asthma is a serious chronic respiratory disease which is sometimes life-threatening.

“Cockroaches can also passively transport microbes on their body surfaces, including pathogens that are potentially dangerous to humans,” one health source said.

“Cockroaches have been implicated in the spread of 33 kinds of bacteria, including the E. coli and Salmonella species, six parasitic worms, and more than seven other types of human pathogens”, another health source said.

According to sources, E. coli and Salmonella cause “classic cases of food poisoning, or gastroenteritis”, and symptoms include belly pain; severe stomach cramps; and tenderness and diarrhoea which can sometimes be bloody. It can also cause nausea and vomiting; and some people experience severe diarrhoea, which will cause dehydration and hospitalisation. The bacteria can eventually spread to the blood stream and cause life threatening infections.

From time to time, this unfair exchange has been experienced by buyers, and it is safe to conclude that poorly secured sugar bags in grocery shops have become popular dwelling places for insects.

One other possibility given by a food inspector within the department is that some packaging companies are not performing their duties in keeping with health and safety guidelines. The officer has asked that buyers desist from the “purchase (of) unlabelled products (and) purchase only properly labelled products”.

She explained that whenever a customer’s complaint against an unlabelled product is received by the department, it is difficult for proper investigation to be done because the department is not presented with enough evidence to track the source of the product or its packaging.

Cole said that, in the upcoming campaign, his department will seriously investigate sanitation of industrial as well as small-business premises. He further stated that, in order to repackage, grocery shop owners must have a permit document from the Ministry of Health, a food handlers’ licence, and a food handlers’ certificate, which will be issued only after a 16-hour training programme.