Over fifty Food handlers from across the island will from today be expected to practice better sanitation and food safety measures when serving the public.
A one-day seminar aimed at remedying food safety island wide, got under way at the Public Service Training Centre on Monday morning.
“Our whole idea is to bring knowledge to the food handlers so that they could get the practices of food safety in place, and they could bring it out there to the public so people can go into the food establishments and receive a standard of food safety island wide,” District Environmental Health Officer for the Roseau Central Health District, Craig Lebruin, told DNO.
Lebruin said many times customers go to food establishments and they complain that they are not satisfied with the quality of service that they are receiving from food handlers in terms of sanitation.
He said such seminars are held every first Monday of each month, especially before major events. “Every first Monday of every month especially at peak periods before carnival, cricket, World Creole Music Festival; at that time you have a large turnover of food handlers seeking permits. The idea is to prevent people from getting sick and getting (disease) out breaks at these times,” he said.
In order to have a food handler’s permit, one must first must be screened by a doctor, and attend a food handlers health session and must be well prepared to serve the public, according to Lebruin.
It must be noted that the Environmental Health Department of the Minitry of Health has contributed to significant improvement in FOOD Safety in dominica . We can take credit for the drastic reduction in cases of Typhoid Fever ,grastoentreities and worm infections over the past 20 years.Revived food safety programme from 2004 have include; Monthly, four hour education seminiar for food handlers,certification of food establihment, medical certification
EHD has established food monitoring at all major ports of entry on island and conduct weekly inspection of meat of all local butchers .
There are challenges faced by EHD, which if overcome can emmensely enhance food safety on island these include; enactment of; food safty act
and food business regulations and employment of food inspectors and implimentaion of consumer education program
EHD YOU ALL HAVE BE DOING WELL KEEP FOCUS
TO BE CONTINUED
I eat a lot of street food when I travel. I got vaccinated against hepatitis to protect myself against that virus. I have an iron stomach, so I hardly get sick from eating food. Unless I can see evidence of nastiness, I am always ready to try something new and different.
As some people already stated, enforcement to ensure proper food hygiene should be the logical next step. The monthly seminars are a good start, but monitoring and enforcement should be done thereafter.
You are correct. Consistently throughout the year, probably every three months. Inspectors usually conduct a surprise one.
Way to go food safety is very important especially for the tourist some of the things I see when I visit is appalling the surroundings of some of the food stands are a mess
This is an excellent step towards training such staff. Staff who are employed in the restaurant industry should be trained in proper sanitation. This includes proper grooming.
However, if those areas are not clean and the staff do not practice proper hygiene, this could turn off patrons.
I am extremely particular about where I eat and also what I eat. This is why I love home cooking. On certain occasions, it is necessary to go to restaurants. Those places are chosen very carefully.
Some people love to eat in restaurants and take-out areas. The smell of food could be tempting and the taste could be delicious.
They should also be careful to wash their hands properly after using the washroom.
Attention should also be given to clean finger nails and hair. There are some people in this age who braid their hair and do not shampoo and comb it for months, if not for years.
Gloves should be worn when handling food. Strands of hair could easily fall on the food. A cap should be worn to cover the hair.
If they have a cold, flu or virus and are also coughing they should stay home until they fully recover from the cold. A doctor’s medical letter would be appropriate to convince management that the staff concerned has a clean bill of health.
They should also be required to wear aprons.
that EHD is more talk and no action
what about those person who sell green vegetables contaminated with animal faeces to big time supermarkets.I know of one such business place buying lettuce grown in pig poo poo from a MAN OF GOD
so is this a result of the lamowi fiasco? if dominicans aint know how to handle food in 2013 well they will never know
Hello, That’s a good start and they must make them practice proper Hygiene. I was just in DA for carnival and I was very disappointed in how I saw a young man handled meat at the new market. The Health Inspectors should make surprised visits to the market . I don’t eat meat but people should know that the meat is properly stored and safe to consume .
I am happy to see that the Environmental Health Department has accepted the idea of having a full day training for Food service personnel. Over the years there has been 1 to 2 hour training which was grossly inadequate because there was not enough time to teach the many food hygiene and safety principles that are crucial to food borne illness prevention.
What I would like to see in addition to this, is special training seminars for food safety managers. Sometimes these persons do not have a clue about food safety but they find themselves in charge of a food service establishment. They expect their employees to practice good food hygiene but they do not as if the responsibility is only on the food service employee.
Now that there is the scheduled monthly training, I would also like to see a system implemented where every new food handler is referred to the Department for the Food safety Training before they begin to work and food establishments penalized to not complying.
Keep it up my boys. Sooner or later the public will begin to see the value of the work you all do.
So no more diarrhea if you drink a fruit juice in Roseau
Even though the fruit juice looks clean, this does not mean you cannot get diarrhea. You must be careful about drinking cold drinks especially on an empty stomach in that heat. It could also kill you.
If it is canned juice there should be an expiration date on it.
The EHD needs to implement a food hygiene rating index for premises which offer food for sale to the public. I have seen it in many other jurisdictions. In that way the public will be guided in knowing the hygiene rating of any particular establishment. For example the score card could run from 1 (lowest hygiene index) to 5(highest hygiene index)and as such the public will know where any particular establishment is in respect to food hygiene
Are you referring to the progressive countries? In bygone years this was not the practice. In fact inspections were not conducted as frequently.
In recent years some restaurants became rat and roach-infested in addition to unclean surroundings that the Canadian government commenced seriously inspecting those premises. If the rating is poor, they must close down to fumigate and clean-up their premises. A notification is placed on those premises. If they receive an acceptable rating, it is posted on the premises.
Good for you Craigo I see you doing well in your personal development…keep it up
still wont eat in roseau,some of the restaurants has no bathroom very unsanitary,also no grease traps.
i guess you coming roseau with ur tosh dasheen roasted in foil paper? Your tolomant and goat milk in a thermost hahaahahha with some salt fish in a small dish.
Laughing, you got me laughing. Thank you, thank you so much. LOLOL
This is another matter, some dirty and smelly washrooms. It could be upsetting and deter people from eating there or purchasing take-out food.
Do the have health inspectors checking in on food service providers?? Checking for cleanliness, proper food tempts, sanitation,etc. That would be great. Good start
How can one report incidents of poor hygiene or cleanliness in restaurants etc if identified?
Report it to the Environmental Health Department. The office is on Bath Road, upstairs the Campbells building.
Thanks Attitude
walk away after demanding ur cash back
Why not to the Ministry of Health and hope that it is taken seriously. The Ministry should provide a telephone number for that purpose.