Erica Virtue, Staff Reporter
SCHOOLS, especially in the Corporate Area, St. Catherine and St. Thomas, which previously snubbed the Ministry of Education's directive to have their canteens and cafeterias health certified, are now scurrying to do so following the threat of closure by health officials.
With more than 100 schools of all levels in the Corporate Area handling food for schoolchildren and adults, only six in the parish of Kingston and St. Andrew were certified up to March 8. The school are Ardenne and Holy Childhood high schools, Mavisville Preparatory and Junior High, Calvary Preparatory, Tarrant Primary and Manning's Hill All-Age.
None in the parish of St. Catherine was certified up to the end of March this year and only the Johnson Mountain primary school in the parish of St. Thomas was certified.
Food safety specialist at the Ministry of Health, Peter Knight, said all establishments were required to become health certified and if they were not certified, they were breaking the law.
He said, in the last month since the publication of a Sunday Gleaner story highlighting the lack of certification of food handling establishments, including school canteens, a significant number of schools have been making efforts to have their canteens certified.
"The information reaching me is that there have been a positive reaction generally, especially in Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Ann, St. James and Clarendon. But there has also been a great reaction from the schools," he said.
Types of food
According to him, facilities must be certified to determine if the different types of foods are being stored at proper temperatures.
Mr. Knight was unable to give figures as to the number which have become certified in the last month, but said the process included an application to the parish's health department and at least one visit from public health inspectors in the first 14 days, to examine the establishment.
Asked if the high level of non-compliance in schools was because they were unaware of the health requirement, he said schools knew about the requirement.
"The schools are aware. I have sat in meetings with officials from the Ministry of Education and I know the Ministry has informed them by writing," he said.
Schools are exempted from paying the $2,500 annual fee but that was the only exemption, he said. The Health Act of 2002 give the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) the power to shut down the establishments entirely, or part thereof.
Chief public health inspectors in two parishes, a fortnight ago, issued instructions that all food handling establishments become health certified or face closure. The Health Act of 2002, denotes food handling establishments as those that prepared or sold food for human consumption and includes the categories of retail and food service premises.
