StJMC turns up heat on food safety
Published:Saturday | October 14, 2023 | 12:09 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
MONTEGO BAY Deputy Mayor Richard Vernon has denied that an upcoming initiative to certify and more closely regulate food vendors in St James is a response to the Crab Circle controversy in Kingston.
During a press conference following the StJMC meeting on Thursday, Vernon announced that the St James Municipal Corporation’s (StJMC) Safe Food Programme will be rolled out by December.
“I assure you that this is not a knee-jerk reaction, as we have been working on this programme since 2022, but to get all the ministries, departments and agencies together, it was not as easy as we would have loved for it to be,” Vernon said.
“But we are getting there ... . In August of this year, we decided to double down on the efforts to implement the programme, and we are well ahead now in reaching that implementation phase,” he added.
Concerns about the practices of roadside food vendors were heightened after the Kingston and St Andrew Health Department ordered the popular Crab Circle street food hub closed on October 5 due to health and sanitary concerns.
The closure order followed the surfacing of a video in which one vendor was seen wiping her bottom at her stall after claiming to have a bout of diarrhoea.
Regarding the StJMC’s Safe Food Programme, which targets street vendors, Vernon said that the installation of sanitary facilities in specified areas of Montego Bay is among key goals for the programme’s success.
“It entails putting in the necessary sanitary conveniences across Montego Bay, establishing safe food zones, registering these vendors, assessing the locations where they are operating, and also creating a catalogue that will be available to the public. Members of the public will be able to go on to the StJMC’s website and see the food operators who are registered under the Safe Food Programme,” Vernon explained.
“Whether you are driving a car and selling food, or if you are stationary and selling food, or if you are operating a restaurant, we will be targeting those areas and ensuring that, at the local level, we look out for the best practices possible. By December, this programme will be in full swing, and come 2024 we will have better compliance on our streets in the food industry and we will move that baseline from five per cent of persons who are certified to at least 70 per cent over the next six months,” Vernon added.
The StJMC previously launched a food safety programme in June 2022 to equip food vendors with food handlers’ permits, following reports in April that year that only 30 out of 600 food vendors in St James were found to have valid permits.