Health inspectors monitoring food consumed at Mico Teachers’ College
Every other day, health inspectors from the Kingston and St Andrew Health Department monitor the food coming out of the cafeteria at the Mico Teachers’ College in Kingston.
The health department implemented these measures after declaring it a high-risk facility last month when 500 students and staff members fell ill within 24-hours after eating lunch there.
On Tuesday, medical office of health Dr Karen Webster told the Parish Disaster and Health Committee meeting of the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) that since the Health Department started monitoring the cafeteria, it was closed for a short time to rectify storage problems.
“They are now open and we are satisfied, but we are still monitoring it right now. We were monitoring it every day but we are now down to monitoring the Mico College cafeteria every other day,” she said.
Since the incident, the college has also been instructed to ensure that in the future portions of all the food cooked at the cafeteria is temporarily stored and available for testing in case there is a Problem.
Dr Pauline Weir, coordinating officer of Health Department explained that because there was no leftover food at the cafeteria on the day of the outbreak, the Health Department was not able to identify what had caused the illness.
“All the food that was cooked that day got eaten. So we weren’t able to get a sample to send to the lab, so that’s where our problem is. However, we have insisted that they put systems in place that any meal that they cook they ought to put a portion of it in the refrigerator so that if something comes up we can always go back to that for testing, while we see them as a high risk situation,” Weir added.
Meanwhile, Webster noted that none of the three students who were sent to the hospital as a result of the outbreak, were hospitalised. However, one of the students had to be treated with intravenous fluids, she said. Webster said she was also advised that some Mico College staff members had to seek medical attention off campus.
The principal, Dr Claude Packer, told the Observer yesterday that he could not comment on the matter since he had not been given a copy of the Health Department’s official report. He, however, confirmed that the cafeteria had been temporarily closed by the health authorities.
“I can’t comment as I do not have their official report. The cafeteria was indeed closed temporarily. However, they have been working with us to see that it stays open,” Packer added.
Meanwhile, People’s National Party Councillor Gareth Walker (Brandon Hill division) said that high schools with a population of more than 2,000 students should also be periodically monitored by the Health Department.
But Weir said that a shortage of staff prevented them from doing this as frequently as it should be done.
“Those are done randomly. We happened to have had a problem at Mico so we had to do it on a daily basis. But vetting institutions is something that we do, maybe not as frequently as we should because of the shortage of staff but we certainly do,” Weir said.
On the matter of food handlers permits, Webster told the meeting that the number of fraudulent food handlers permits had been significantly reduced since the introduction of laminated food handlers permit cards, in January 2005.
She said that the number of food handlers permits issued since this year had increased by an estimated 30 per cent over the comparative period in 2005. Between January and August 2005, 10,303 food handlers permits were issued compared to 13,528 for the same period in 2006.