Focus on food safety

Senior Environmental Health Officer, Ryle Rock, is urging Barbadians to wash their hands to avoid foodborne illnesses.

This information was shared during the Food Safety and Vector Training session at the Eunice Gibson Polyclinic yesterday.

During his presentation on “Food Safety and Its Importance to the Consumer”, Rock highlighted the cases of Salmonella, Campylobacter, Norovirus, Staphaureus, Shigella and Rotavirus – all deadly and highly contagious  foodborne diseases – between 2013 and 2017 in Barbados.

He spoke about the high number of foodborne illnesses in a specific year due to clusters around the island. Rock noted the source of some of the cases was due to the poor preparation of meat, lack of water where the food was prepared, poor hand- washing hygiene, and contaminated tamarind snow cone syrup.

According to Principal Environmental Health Officer Maurice Gaskin, who also presented yesterday, 60 per cent of these illnesses could be prevented by using good handwashing hygiene.

He added that food handlers should also use personal hair restraints (hair nets, caps, beard caps); have good personal hygiene (wearing clean clothing, bathing); avoid wearing nail polish and strong perfume which can transfer to the food; and avoid wearing sleeveless clothing, short pants and slippers.

Look for labels

During a brief interview with The Barbados Advocate after the training session, Gaskin spoke in-depth about some of the concerns that health officers have with food handlers and food operators in Barbados.

He reminded Barbadians that drink falls under the category of food and this will include homemade fruit drinks, water and coconut water. The principal environmental health officer stressed that any drink bought on the roadside should have a label with the name of the seller, contact details and the ingredients.

He noted that in the case of coconut vendors who sell coconut water, it is important for buyers not to eat coconut jelly using the “spoon”, a small piece of coconut shell used to scoop out the coconut meat. Gaskin explained that rats love coconuts and unwashed coconut shells may have traces of rat urine, and this can increase the risk or exposure to leptospirosis. He added that not only coconuts, but all fresh produce bought should be washed thoroughly before consumption.

Gaskin also pointed out that the island’s polyclinics provide several licences to the food operators and food handlers, including those that allow people to sell food and drink in front of businesses. He added that applying for these licences is free.

The session, hosted by the polyclinic located in Warrens, was the first of its kind and invited representatives of 14 restaurants and other food businesses within the catchment area to participate.

Each person will be given a certificate from the Chief Environmental Health Officer, Francina Bascombe.