Chinese restaurant owners and their staff participated in a comprehensive food safety training on Sunday which was organised by the Central Board of Health.
Deputy Chief Health Inspector (CHI) Daryl Spencer said the training sought to encompass primarily all of the Chinese eateries across the island. Spencer said with the support of a local professional translator, the Mandarin speaking population was able to take part in the informative session.
“And this came from a recognized need, an observed need over many years, of us having the food handlers training program … [and] we also recognized over the years that when we held the food handlers training program as a single collective unit, we missed the target for some of our critical non-English speaking population.
“So it’s something that we’ve been trying to put together for some time, [and] we were able to do so this time around with the assistance of somebody from the Chinese association locally — Mr. Stanley Yang, who operates Stanley’s Home Kitchen on Old Parham Road.
“He was able to make contact with the local Chinese Mandarin-speaking restaurateurs, and arranged a space for us to carry out the training. We also engaged a local Antiguan who studied in China, studied Mandarin, to assist Mr Yang in interpreting the content of the food handlers training program,” Spencer said.
The Deputy CHI said that about 45 participants were trained in the “Five Keys to Safe Food” including keeping surroundings clean, separating raw and cooked foods, cooking foods thoroughly, keeping foods at safe temperatures and using safe water and safe raw materials.
“It was actually the first of a kind that I’ve been a part of, and it’s something that we found to be very, very necessary,” Spencer said.
“And as we go out and we encounter similar situations, we will try to reach out to the local organizations once more so that we can have credible scientific content, good content, passed on to the operators of these types of operations.”
The goal of the training was to ensure that all staff within the food service industry is equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to maintain high food safety standards in Antigua and Barbuda.
Spencer said what he found interesting was that the business owners said they felt “very comfortable” during the after-session discussions as they felt as though they had a stake in “the whole food handlers’ interaction between the private sector and government”.
He added that sometimes when the government reaches out to businesses, there is some kickback because it is thought that the administration is using a heavy hand in the way it approaches matters.
The CBH official also noted that the Mandarin-speaking business owners appreciated the fact that the training was tailored specifically for them and that they didn’t have to try to play catch up, or being unable to understand some of the discussion, as would be the case if they were part of a large group.
“And even though they attended [in the past], a lot of times they would have missed some of the content. So they felt like, you know, a special effort was made to incorporate them. And they felt like they could have asked the questions and had discussions that were specific to their type of operation,” Spencer said.
He said the CBH is committed to improving the public’s health by providing comprehensive training and resources to restaurant operators nationwide, and to give them the tools necessary to ensure that their businesses succeed.
“CBH has taken the position that we want to ensure that people are exposed to safe food, so whether it be a local sports club, community organisation, churches … we reach out to groups to ensure that they have the information necessary to provide safe food for the public … and they can reach out also.
“You know, we’re here to help the public; we’re here to ensure that we don’t appear to come along with the heavy hand or the big stick,” Spencer concluded.
