The Central Board of Health (CBH) will deploy several teams of persons to total
more than one hundred to ensure that food safety, general health, and sanitation
matters are dealt with during the annual Carnival festivities.
Principal Public Health Supervisor, Julienne Mannix, said the department is
responsible for ensuring that there are no food-borne or other diseases to affect
members of the public attending the various carnival events. The department is
also responsible for cleaning Carnival City as well as the streets of St. John’s
immediately after every event.
“We have had our food safety training this month specifically geared towards those
individuals who will be involved in the preparation, handling, and sale of food
during the carnival. We also had an engagement with the vendors to explain what
our public health inspectors will be looking for when they carry out their
inspections during the shows,” she explained.
Among the several teams that the department will deploy are public health
inspectors who will ensure that those in the food handling business wear a badge to
certify that they completed the training. The inspectors will also want to see hot
and cold food devices. Hand-washing and personal protection equipment will also
be included on the list of things these vendors must have in place.
These public health inspectors will be inspecting food operations in Carnival City,
Shanty Town, and on the streets of St. John’s throughout the Carnival period.
Regarding the clean-up after the Carnival events, separate teams of individuals will
be deployed to Carnival City, its environs, and the city streets starting at 2:00 a.m.
each day and running until the city is clean for the start of the workday.
Another team of individuals will be assigned to ensure the proper workings of the
public bathrooms in Carnival City, while vector control officers will carry out
regular surveillance checks to handle any vector issues before they become major.
According to Mannix, the department will utilize its own staff in the various teams,
but concerning the sanitation assignments, the department will buttress its staff by
sub-contracting much of the clean-up to private contractors.
