Vendor in MoBay urine video fined $300,000
Published:Wednesday | January 8, 2025 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Denese Adams, the vendor caught on camera urinating into a container and then pouring it into a bottle at the Charles Gordon Market in Montego Bay last year, was fined $300,000 after she pleaded guilty in St James Court on Monday.
Adams pleaded guilty to several breaches of the Public Health (Food Handling) Regulations.
Presiding judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce ordered her to pay $100,000 or spend 10 days in jail for unlawfully operating a food-handling business without a food handler’s permit, contrary to Section 26.1 of the Public Health Act Regulations.
Adams was also ordered to pay $100,000 or spend 10 days in jail for failing to apply for a food handler’s permit before being employed in a food-handling business, and $100,000 for unlawfully urinating and storing urine in a motor vehicle used to transport and store food and without washing hands afterwards, which are also breaches of the Regulations.
However, she was admonished and discharged for unlawfully offering food for sale, which was exposed to contamination and in contact with human waste, contrary to Regulation 12 E.
CHARGES DROPPED
Two additional charges had been dropped prior to her first court appearance last September.
The breaches stemmed from an incident in September, when a passing motorist captured footage of Adams urinating into a container and then transferring the urine into a bottle. This occurred while she was seated in a vehicle outside the Charles Gordon Market, where she was selling fruits and ground provisions.
Checks by the St James Health Services revealed that Adams’ food handler’s permit had expired in 2021. The health department later announced that Adams would not be allowed to continue plying her trade, and Montego Bay Mayor Richard Vernon declared that the St James Municipal Corporation would take stricter measures to ensure vendors’ compliance with the Safe Food Programme, which was launched in 2023.
Adams was represented by attorney Henry McCurdy.