– up to public health officers to act, says food department director

ONE day after releasing a survey on the operation of local restaurants, Director of the Government Analyst Food and Drug Department, (GA-FDD), Marlan Cole, has said that it is up to public health officers to impose sanctions where necessary.

The GA-FDD released the statistics on Tuesday following a six-month survey which ended in March 2019. In making the disclosure, 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 inspection officers and public health officers now have information which they could use to take action and guide local restaurant owners,” said Cole during a press conference on Wednesday.

Cole said the department will be lending support to public health officers by arming them with the information to take action.

Despite leaving the results in the hands of the inspectors, the GA-FDD hopes that some of the restaurant operators will understand what they need to do and change things without being sanctioned.

“We are not asking them to cease operation, we are basically giving them a chance to get it right,” said Cole.

He believes that it makes sense for the department to work with those establishments instead of resorting to extreme measures and taking appropriate action.
A representative of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown, Dr. Suzette Reynolds, said intervention is needed, especially in the City.
Based on the survey, there was an alarming amount of cross-contamination and diseases and she hopes that the Council will look at new ways of cutting down the high rate of contamination.

“We must revise our systems to do more… what we can do is work on making the educational talks with restaurant owners different,” said Dr. Reynolds.
Although the Council is short-staffed in the area of food inspection, it will be looking to comb the “fine areas” in the City.
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.