The recent death of a UTech student allegedly caused by consuming food from a restaurant in Kingston brings into sharp focus the importance of food safety.

Everyone will agree that the State is the responsible body to protect the public from consuming foods that are not fit for human consumption, and the Government has been doing a relatively good job in this regard.

Health departments in the respective parishes are responsible for administering and executing the food safety programmes. These departments have trained competent officers whose entry-level education is at the undergraduate level.

However, owners and operators of food establishments must take some responsibility for keeping food safe. Every establishment should have at least one employee at management level who has adequate competence and knowledge in food safety, hazard analysis and critical control points, and food handling regulations under the Public Health Act.

These are requirements that, if complied with, can give some amount of assurance that certain fundamental principles in food safety and food hygiene will be adhered to and will prevent foodborne outbreak and ultimately death.

Remember, Government resources are limited and even if more resources were pumped into the food safety programme, it still can not substitute for in-house training by those who run food establishments.

Operators of food establishments must know about common foodborne diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, etc. Also, they should be aware of the causative organisms like Ecoli and how they can prevent water and food from becoming contaminated.

Finally, the Government must implement more stringent measures through regulations under the Public Health Act to penalise food establishments that don't comply and adhere to food safety principles. These situations are coming up too frequently and the easiest way to address them is through laws.

This situation is very important as more and more people are eating out now than ever before. It's time to act now.

I am, etc.,

FRANKLYN GILPIN

goug_23@yahoo.com

Portmore

St Catherine