First Instalment
During the course of a recent food handling forum executed by the Government Analyst Food and Drugs Department (GAFDD) and contributed to by various other state agencies, the Stabroek Business met and spoke with food vendors, including small operators whose businesses are modest and underdeveloped. The fact that the forum (according to the GAFDD) was attended by only around 40 participants and, moreover, secured only limited media coverage, strongly suggests that there is no robust and sustained mechanism for providing both the population at large as well as vendors with a structured initiative aimed at providing critical education of food vending (particularly roadside food vending) and its public health implications.
We believe that this omission may well be putting significant numbers of consumers at risk and have therefore decided to undertake relevant research on the subject and to publish a series (comprising perhaps up to half a dozen articles) on the subject.
