A MEETING has been set for next Wednesday between bakers and officials from the Jamaica Bureau of Standards (JBS) following a stand-off earlier this week between the Bureau and the Bakers Association of Jamaica (BAJ).
BAJ President Herma Perkins-Sutherland on Monday asked bakers islandwide not to meet with officials from the Bureau until a meeting could be arranged with Dr. Omer Thomas, head of the Bureau.
Herma Perkins-Sutherland told The Gleaner that the BAJ was forced to take action after failing in its attempts to meet with Dr. Thomas since April 24, 2001 when he announced plans in the media to target bakeries for inspection and to have their buildings assessed. Dr. Thomas is said to be overseas.
However, a number of meetings between the two, the last of which was to have been held on May 22, were cancelled although bakeries in Clarendon, Montego Bay, St. James and Kingston reported that they have been visited by inspectors from the Bureau of Standards. The BAJ represents 110 of an estimated 135 bakeries islandwide.
Meanwhile, the JBS insists that, the BAJ's statement notwithstanding, its inspectors would still be visiting bakeries.
The Bureau's Acting Executive Director, Hermond Edmondson said while there were issues to discuss in the May 30 meeting, the Bureau was still mandated to carry out its duties.
In a release, he reminded manufacturers and producers including bakers, that they would be breaking the law by preventing officials from the Bureau from assessing their businesses.
It is a violation of the 1968 Standards Act for any duly authorised representative of the Bureau to be prevented from carrying out their duties in fulfilling the mandate of the bureau, he said.
"We are just reminding them," Mr. Edmondson told The Gleaner, adding that he did not want to go the route of a "showdown" between the Bureau and the BAJ but hoped that all organisations would work with the Bureau to achieve consistent safety standards in the products they produce.
While she did want to have any "quarrel or fight" with the Bureau, Mrs. Perkins-Sutherland told The Gleaner yesterday that she was sticking by her earlier statement.
She reiterated that the bakers and the Bureau had not agreed on standards by which bakeries would be assessed and so they needed to know what the Bureau's criteria were. In addition, the Bureau and BAJ must discuss other plans by the Bureau to assess whether or not bakeries are registered and operating within the Bureau's standards, she said.
Mr. Edmondson said that these and other bakeries would receive follow up training on June 6, 2001.
The Bureau said that businesses which have not complied with requirements under the Standards Act may be fined up to $500,000 for a first offence and an additional $100,000 for each day that the breach continues. The bureau can also prevent sale of their products or close down the businesses.
