40% of food shops fail health tests

By Trudy Simpson Staff Reporter

OVER 40 PER cent of food handling establishments islandwide were denied health certification up to April, for failing to meet public health requirements.

Just over 2,440 of the 5,546 establishments which applied between January and April were denied health certification, because they failed to meet requirements under the Public Health (Food Handling) Regulations of 1998 and the year 2000 amendments. However, some of the establishments have since reapplied and are being reassessed.

The 2000 regulations became effective September 1, last year, a month after changes to the Public Health (Tourist Establishments) and (Swimming Pools) regulations - contained in one booklet - took effect. Data from the Ministry of Health's four health regions show that 5,546 applications were received up to April, with the largest number of applications coming from Kingston and St. Andrew (838), Manchester (709), St. Catherine (595), Portland (496) and St. Mary (472).

Of that number, 5043 were inspected or reinspected by health officials during the period, with the owners and operators of 2602 receiving health certificates up to April.

Food Safety Specialist in the Ministry, Peter Knight, explained on Friday that a further 10 to 15 per cent of the owners and operators of the establishments should have received health certification since April and up to Friday.

"The process is ongoing so you could have one or two which meet the requirements, but which have not yet received the health certificate, "Mr. Knight said.

He said there could be others which have not met some requirements and have since been given a "work plan" outlining what is needed to bring the establishments into compliance. These need to be reinspected, he continued.

Public health inspections must be carried out and standards met before the yearly licences, which cost between $1,500 and $10,000, are issued. Further inspections are carried out periodically, ranging from every two months to a year.

The data highlighted big differences between the number of food establishments inspected and the number receiving health certification.

In Westmoreland, only 32 out of 161 establishments got a health certificate while figures for Kingston and St. Andrew showed that of the 721 businesses inspected, only 192 received health certificates. The story was the same in Hanover (281 inspected, 85 certified), Clarendon (220 inspected, 80 certified) and St. Ann (256 inspected, 98 certified).

The other parishes did better, however. Manchester was ahead, having 706 facilities inspected, of which 637 received health certificates, followed by St. Elizabeth (251 inspected, 200 getting health certificates), St. Thomas (300 were inspected and 210 were granted certificates) and St. James (416 inspected, 248 having health certificates). Trelawny also did well although 168 of the 520 businesses inspected were visited without applications being made.

Among the food operations covered are those within private companies, schools, hospitals and other non-governmental agencies, dry commissaries, food stands, itinerant vendors, snack and food shops and coin operated food vending machines located on premises accessible to the public.

It also covers meat, poultry and fish shops, supermarkets, bakeries and pastry shops, inflight food catering services and other food catering establishments, full and quick service restaurants including pizzerias, delicatessens and all other types of cafes, food warehouses, cold storage facilities, wholesale food stores, food processing and manufacturing plants including those that process meat, poultry, fish, canned goods, beverages and frozen novelties such as ice cream and milk.

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