Consumers Encouraged to Be Careful When Purchasing Food

President of the Jamaica Association for Public Health Inspectors (JAPHI), Karen Brown, is cautioning citizens to be very careful when purchasing food.

Ms. Brown was addressing a Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, held at the agency’s Montego Bay Regional Office in St. James, on Saturday (October 23).

“We are aware that many persons are operating from home; [they are now] a part of the ‘gig’ economy, which is [growing] as a result of the (COVID-19) pandemic, the various restrictions and the economic fallout,” Ms. Brown outlined.

“So, persons need to be aware that this is happening. They have to be very concerned about the safety of their food and they need to be very discriminating as to where they purchase their food, the source of the food and just be mindful of the risk. You would want them under some [regulatory] system, to ensure that the food that you consume doesn’t result in any form of ill health,” she added.

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of JAPHI, Steve Morris, said that to monitor the increasing number of food establishments on the island effectively, more public inspectors are needed.

“One of the issues we have is ‘boots on the ground’; because we can only do so much and no more… we are not able to be there all the time because of other needs. It really is difficult. We try to do as much education as possible and seek support from other agencies if we can, but we really need to have the ‘boots on the ground’,” he emphasised.

The ‘Think Tank’ was held to highlight JAPHI’s 75th Annual Educational Conference, which is being held from October 24 to October 30.

The event, which is part of Public Health Inspector (PHI) Week, is being held under the theme ‘Strengthening environmental health, lessons learnt from the pandemic’.