~ Lee clarifies misconceptions ~
PHILIPSBURG--The Public Health, Social Development and Labour VSA Inspectorate will continue its inspections relating to compliance with food safety, Health Minister Emil Lee said in a press release on Monday.
It should be noted that contrary to an article that appeared on the front page of the Saturday, February 6, edition of The Daily Herald under the headline “Inspection team operations stopped until further notice,” which said the Health Inspectorate had been ordered to stop inspections; it actually was the entire joint inspection team that was temporarily suspended, pending a report of what had transpired during a control at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino last week Thursday.
That joint operation was spearheaded by the Justice Ministry and included the Health Inspectorate, Social and Health Insurances SZV, the Fire Department, Economic Affairs, VROMI, the Inspectorate’s Labour arm and the Immigration Department.
Lee said in his release that there were “a few misconceptions that need to be clarified” about the matter. He said that while the VSA Inspectors would continue their inspections, the joint inspections were currently under review by the Council of Ministers.
“As Minister responsible for the safety of the health of the population and the visitors to our country, ensuring restaurants and businesses that are handling food are in compliance remains a priority. Although I do understand the concerns of the business community as it pertains to the negative effect it may have on the economy during the height of our tourist season, compliance is essential toward securing the wellbeing of our population,” Lee said.
With reference to stopping the operations where food was being handled by The Point restaurant at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, Lee said the restaurant remained closed as of Monday morning, but the establishment said it had been given the green light to reopen late yesterday afternoon.
Lee said, “It is important for the business community to understand why inspections are based on random searches and no notification is sent in advance, as the Inspectorate needs to gather a realistic view of your daily operations. Inspectorate regulations are quite lenient when it comes to reasons for closure.”
He said the top reasons for urgent closure were pest infestation (cockroaches, mice, rats, flies), as well as faeces and no running water available. “The two other types of sanctions are not so detrimental to the operations of a business. These include immediate action/correction on site and warning letter with an obligation to remedy the violation(s) within one to three weeks depending on the violation,” the Minister said.
To boost compliance, Lee urges interested businesses to e-mail
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to receive a list of the top noncompliance issues the Inspectorate of Health is currently encountering.
Prime Minister William Marlin had told reporters at a press conference on Friday that the joint raids had been suspended pending a report into the joint control at Maho. This newspaper erroneously reported on Saturday that it was the VSA inspections that had been suspended.
Marlin had said at the time that e-mails had been received from Maho that the manner in which the joint control had been conducted was offensive to visitors at the hotel at the time. Marlin said Government had requested a report into what had transpired and the joint controls would be suspended pending the provision of the report. He said too that raids were not new and had been conducted by joint teams in the past.
“But judging from reports we have had, and we could not get a report in-house as to what had happened, we do not want these things to get out of hand. And the Council of Ministers has taken a decision to suspend all raids until we have clarity on what has happened,” Marlin had said at the press conference.
“We have had situations where restaurants would be visited by the control unit and people would have to leave the restaurants due to controls taking place and this should not be the manner in which these things should happen,” he had said, noting that the suspension was in place until clarity was received on the matter.
Inspector General Dr. Earl Best told this newspaper that with a joint inspection, each member covered their own jurisdiction, with their own authority and might take necessary measures as prescribed by applicable law.
“Besides the joint inspections the Inspectorate VSA carries out its own regular inspections and may act accordingly in case of violations,” Best said. “If there has been any misconduct by team members, this needs to be investigated and possible culpable members must be addressed by their superiors. The article [published in this newspaper on February 6 – Ed.] gives the impression that the Inspectorate VSA alone is raiding places and misbehaving.”
