A number of Anguillians, working in restaurants and other food establishments, have now been certified to work in the Caribbean and International food service industry locally and outside the island. To that end, they have just completed a rigorous three-day course and taken and passed the necessary tests conducted before and after that training.
The ServSafe Training and Certification for Food Service Managers and Handlers course was sponsored by the Caribbean Development Bank, through its Caribbean Technological Consultancy Services Network, and the Anguilla Development Board with the involvement of the Department of Health Protection.
Speaking on Tuesday, May 17, at the opening ceremony at La Vue Conference Centre, Dr. Bonnie Lake-Richardson, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Development, said in part: “The Ministry of Health recognises that food-borne diseases pose a significant global concern.” And she stated: “The World Health Organisation has documented that unsafe food can contain harmful bacteria viruses, parasites, or chemical substances, which cause over 200 diseases. These range from diarrhoea illness to cancers. Food and water-borne diarrhoeal diseases kill an estimated two million people annually including children. It is estimated that the total cost associated with food-borne diseases is between US$700,000 and US$19 million per year. These events have serious negative impacts on travel tourism.”
Dr. Richardson Lake continued: “Tourism, as you all know, is the mainstay of Anguilla’s economy. It is necessary to ensure that all aspects of this vital industry are operating at the highest level. Food and beverage are important aspects of the visitor’s experience…Citizens of the island also have a right to have wholesome and safe food to ensure they don’t get sick…This training in food safety can lead to improved safe food-handling practices and, hopefully, a reduction of food-borne diseases.”
The trainers were Ms Julie-Ann Laudat and Mr. Lionel Michael, both Certified ServSafe Instructors. “This particular workshop is the fifth of the Caribbean Development Bank’s series of training…,” Ms Laudat told the course participants. “We are very happy to be in Anguilla. The aim of this project is to improve food-handling practices in Anguilla, and the goal is to ensure that all foods provided and offered to customers should be safe, wholesome and minimise any incidents of food-borne diseases.
“The objective of the project is to improve the knowledge base of personnel in the food service industry about the factors that contribute to safe food; to increase the understanding of food providers or handlers of their role to keep food safe; and to improve safe food-handling practices among food-handlers and food providers. It is also to allow for international certification of Anguillians working in the food service industry.”
Mrs. Ann Gumbs, Chairperson of the Anguilla Development Board, remarked: “We must equip ourselves by continuing to utilise training programmes such as this. We commend the Caribbean Development Bank for rolling out such a tailored programme which has already been delivered in several islands across our region. The Anguilla Development Board continues to be a proud partner of the CDB in facilitating the delivery of such training programmes.”
Mr. Ambrell Richardson, Director of Health Protection, commented that it took a lot of team work to organise the training programme. He commended the course participants for doing the necessary pre-testing work. He stressed that food service was an integral part of Anguilla’s tourism product and that stakeholders had an important role to play to ensure that the public is provided with wholesome and safe food.
The course participants took the qualifying certification exam on Thursday, May 19.
