A general food safety campaign is being undertaken after the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) discovered fraudulent food-handling certificates among vendors and businesses within the city.
Acting Chief Meat and Food inspector Abiola Baker, who said that the campaign has been a success, told this newspaper that they were able to get most of the persons who had food handling certificates to come in and have them processed once again.
Baker said to prevent more forgeries, they have sent specimens to various places.
In regards to the fraudulent certificates found, Baker was unable to make a pronouncement, since they are yet to conclude that aspect of their work. They are still to find the persons responsible for the signing of the fraudulent food handling certificates found.
According to Baker, the campaign, which also addressed precautions necessary to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, will begin to venture out to additional areas, such as hospitals and schools since the main focus thus far has been central Georgetown.
She noted that the exercise will be ongoing in the sense that it will weed out fraudulent food handling certificates and at the same time offering education so that persons will become aware of what to do and what not to.
Previously, Stabroek News reported that the Mayor and City Council had reported cases of fraudulent food-handling certificates found among vendors and businesses within the city during routine visits.
Certificates with stamps and signatures of persons not belonging to the council were seen on some of the certificates, and in some cases dates were changed.
Baker had stated that they have since seized those certificates and issued warnings to persons found with them.
She earlier stated that should persons continue violating the city codes, they could face sanctions from the council and offending vendors could be disallowed from selling.
It was also noted that the City Constabulary is working in collaboration with her department to assist with policing the entire system.
