Management indicated that there is not much incentive to pursue such action due to the very low fines prescribed in legislation and the length of time and energy consumed in getting the case to court. photo:VINO

The reports were laid in the House of assembly on July 24, 2012 (2011) and September 3, 2012 (2010) respectively.

An excerpt from the 2010 report read, “… where there is a persistent noncompliance by any establishment to maintain optimum standard, legal action should be brought against the proprietor. However, there is not much incentive to pursue such action due to the very low fines prescribed in legislation and the length of time and energy consumed in getting the case to court. In the meantime the establishment continues to pose a serious health risk to patrons. Quicker and more decisive/authoritive actions need to be given to the Environment Health Division under the laws.

In 2010 out of 233 food establishments in the Restaurant and bar category only 50 were inspected. 14 out of 34 in the Hotel and Restaurant category, 5 out of 6 delis, 9 out of 24 supermarkets, 21 out of 95 bars/snackettes, 2 out of 27 mobile food units and 3 out of 24 establishments listed as other were also inspected in the year under review.

In summary, of the 486 food establishments throughout the territory, only 113 were inspected in 2010; and of 515 in 2011 only 216 food establishments were inspected.

“It is quite conspicuous that productivity under this area for the division has been extremely low, for instance, when the total number for establishments on record is compared with the number of inspection done for the reviewed period, there is a poor reflection on the output by the division.”

In light of this, the report added “the division has embarked on making some changes to the program. Keeping track of the number of establishments registered and inspected has created some challenges due to erroneous data collection, collation and record keeping by staff. As a result the division has sought assistance from the Department of Information and Technology with the establishment of database for better tracking inspection that was conducted.”