– chief meat and food inspector

THE Pagoda Chinese Restaurant, which came under scrutiny by the public after two teeth were allegedly found in a box of their food, had to have been a result of a “set up,” according to Chief Meat and Food Inspector Onica Alleyne-Blackman.

Alleyne-Blackman told reporters recently at City Hall that there is no evidence to support that the teeth were cooked in the food, but more to suggest that they were placed in the box by the customers of the D’Urban Street restaurant.

“That restaurant — we can say for sure — that that’s one restaurant where food is cooked on a daily basis, nothing is leftover. They cook until everything is sold out; fresh food every day. That was a set-up. Even when you look at the teeth, the two teeth that were in there, they’re clean. If they were cooked up in that food, you would’ve seen the seasoning, the celery, something between the teeth. There’s nothing there that indicates they were cooked in the food. They were placed there,” Alleyne-Blackman expressed.

Public Relations Officer at the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) Debra Lewis, who also sat in the interview, said the approximately 30 Chinese restaurants present in the city will have to all be rounded up and told again what is expected of them.
She reasoned that these restaurants should by no means be exempt from the rest of food outlets that are regularly checked and monitored.

There have been numerous complaints, especially on social media, of a popular restaurant on Main Street which has been in severe breach of sanitation laws. But Alleyne-Blackman has said none of the reports have made it to her office.

“No one referred those complaints to our office. We did some inspection [there] as recent as last month and got them to do a lot of cleaning. But nobody came to say anything,” she offered.

Regarding allegations of corruption where officers accept bribes for allowing unfit restaurants to remain open, Lewis said: “I don’t know about that,” with Alleyne-Blackman adding: “There’s nothing for me to say about that, because as far as I know, myself nor my officers have ever engaged in such practices.”

She said though, that the Chinese especially work with the City Council when they are told how what changes need to be made.