PHILIPSBURG--Food Safety Department Inspectors were out on Sunday checking the shipment of fresh produce that arrived on the island over the weekend after being delayed by about a week.
The shipment from Tropical Shipping originally was scheduled to arrive two weekends ago, but had been delayed resulting in almost bare fresh produce shelves at some supermarkets. It arrived this past weekend and at least one supermarket, Sunny Foods, had expressed concern that some of the items would be close to the end of their shelf life.
The inspectors visited fresh produce importers Merchant?s Market and JB Brothers, as well as the Cole Bay Le Grand March� supermarket. Food Safety Department Head Inspector Michael Somersall said Merchants Market already had taken the initiative and had been busy sorting items that were not good, for disposal.
The same was being done by JB Brothers. Le Grand Marche had not yet opened its container of fresh produce when the inspectors visited. This will be done today. Somersall said the inspections would continue today in the interest of food safety.
The Inspection Department had taken note of the concerns expressed by Sunny Foods Supermarket in the media last week and had established communication with Tropical Shipping to be able to inspect the items once they arrived.
?We had a pretty good communication with Tropical Shipping and we tried to be as proactive as possible ? because if there were a lot of spoilt produce measures would have had to be taken to dispose of it on the landfill.?
Somersall urged fresh produce wholesalers and retailers to contact the department to schedule proper disposal and supervision of items that are unfit for consumption.
He said awareness among establishments was growing, with more of them taking the necessary food safety measures.
In a related issue, with the start of the new academic year, the Food Safety Department inspected canteens at the various schools recently. Somersall said that while a few canteens had some minor infringements, most were up to par.
The Department is inspecting food vendors around the island and soon will continue its hurricane awareness campaign to ensure that establishments that sell food or food products are equipped with generators to keep their coolers running and food safe in the event of power outages during a hurricane.
The Department?s campaign on labelling also will continue in the near future.
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