Chief health inspector warns both vendors and consumers to observe food-safety protocols and avoid outbreak of illness

The Central Board of Health (CBH), once again, is making an appeal
to persons vending food for the Carnival season to exercise proper
food-safety etiquette to prevent food-borne ailments.

Chief Health Inspector Sharon Martin says food safety is the method
used to describe how food is handled, prepared, and stored in ways
that would prevent illnesses that arise from poor and improper
handling.

If vendors ignore the proper safety etiquette, then consumers could
end up falling sick due to an outbreak of food-borne contaminants.
This would be catastrophic, Martin says, since the Sir Lester Bird
Medical Centre cannot handle any major outbreak. 

Therefore, she says, food vendors must exercise extreme caution
and put into practice what they have been taught in the food-
handler’s training sessions. 

Keeping the work area clean at all times; separating raw and cooked
foods; cooking foods thoroughly; keeping foods at a safe
temperature; and purchasing foods from reputable sources are just
some of the measures that will prevent food-safety hazards, she
explains.

It is also important that vendors invest in a calibrated food
thermometer, Martin says, since this is the only way to ensure that
cooked foods are at the proper internal temperature and safe for
consumption.

And while vendors should practice what they have been taught,
Martin is aware that not everyone adheres to the safety guidelines. 
Therefore, she says that persons who have not even received the
training and, therefore, would not have been issued a food-handler’s
certificate, should not be selling food.

Doing so, the chief health inspector says, can result in a financial
penalty for offenders.

Martin says it is not the intention of the CBH to stop anyone from
making a living; but things have to be done in the correct way.

She adds that consumers, too, have a responsibility to protect their
health by patronizing reputable vendors and purchasing foods at the
right temperatures.

Meanwhile, Martin says the number of persons trained by her
department for the food handler’s certificate is in the thousands –
including new and repeat applicants. Hence, there is not enough
manpower to patrol their operations, especially during a festival like
Carnival.