St James health authorities warn of post-Beryl food-safety risk
Some handlers taking precautions, but 35 entities flagged after inspections
Published:Monday | July 15, 2024 | 12:08 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Despite concerns from the St James Health Department about food safety after Hurricane Beryl’s devastation, several food vendors and shop owners in the parish have said that they have implemented measures to ensure that their products are safe for consumers.
Beverly Hanson, who operates a cook shop in Chatham, told The Gleaner that she has chosen to prioritise her patrons’ health, discarding food items that could potentially be harmful after her refrigerators defrosted with the loss of power.
She uses changes in smell, colour, and texture as indicators of whether the items are still fit for consumption.
“With fish, if the gill is not looking pink and the side feels soft, you know you cannot [eat] them. Even with salt fish, it’s left up to the smell and colour, and those are the things that I use [to tell if they have spoiled],” Hanson said. “I had turkey bacon inside the fridge also, and I noticed it had white and reddish parts on it, and although it was well sealed, I gave it to my husband and told him to put it in the dog food.”
Tanesha Drummond, the proprietor of a cook shop in Content, said she is opting for fresh ingredients to prepare her meals, including sourcing freshly killed chickens from local farmers.
“It’s just my fries that I bought recently, and I did not buy a whole lot, just two packages, and they’re perfectly fine, and before Hurricane Beryl, I never stored anything,” she told The Gleaner last Thursday.
Evidence of spoilage
Both proprietors were speaking on the heels of a warning from Sherika Lewis, St James’ acting chief public health inspector, who urged consumers to be careful about the quality of food they buy in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
“ ... Examine the packages carefully. Look for evidence of wetting, moisture, or evidence of spoilage such as colour change, any odour, or any change in the texture. For example, if you buy frozen chicken and you stick your finger in that chicken and it does not spring back, that is evidence of spoilage,” Lewis said during an address at the St James Municipal Corporation meeting last Thursday.
Last week, farmers and cook shop operators in neighbouring Trelawny told The Gleaner that they had to discard huge volumes of meats due to the lack of electricity to maintain appropriate storage temperatures.
Christine Turnbull, another St James-based cook shop operator, said she has been able to keep her food supply appropriately refrigerated with her solar-powered electrical supply.
“Since the hurricane, I haven’t purchased anything as yet, so it’s previous stock that I have used, and it was on solar-powered electricity already. It is always refrigerated, and there are thermometers in there, and I have enough supplies already so that I have not bought anything as yet,” Turnbull disclosed.
Since the passage of the hurricane, the St James Health Department has conducted food-hygiene checks at 179 food-handling establishments, of which 35 were deemed unsatisfactory. Some 830 kilograms of meat were condemned. The health authorities say they will be expanding these checks into rural communities.