Samples taken from Chinese restaurant amid complaints of insects in food

The Government Analyst-Food and Drug Department (GA-FDD) has begun investigating claims of insects being present in food sold to customers of a Chinese restaurant located in Providence, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
An investigative officer in the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) district recently told Guyana Times that the Public Health Officers in that area were handling the matter.
He noted that already the restaurant has been inspected, and samples were taken and sent for analysis.
The restaurant was exposed by an angry customer who vented his frustration on social media following several discoveries of what appeared to be cockroach legs in his food.
The customer explained to Guyana Times in an exclusive interview that he purchased food once and took it home to his wife, who was sharing the meal among family members when they discovered the legs that resembled those of a cockroach.
Following this incident, he detailed that his friend made a purchase only recently at the said restaurant and he found something similar in his food.
The angry man also told this publication that he visited the restaurant several times previously and he observed that the chefs were operating in what appeared to be floodwaters, as the kitchen is lower than the rest of the building.
The man had called for a thorough investigation into the restaurant’s activities.
A few days ago, the GA-FDD presented the findings from a survey conducted on food businesses which found that most of them were breaching sanitary regulations, ranging from employees not properly washing their hands to the improper storage and preparation of meals.
The survey was conducted from September 2018 to March 2019 among 55 randomly selected food service establishments in Regions Four and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
The inspection checklist assessed six areas: food storage, cold storage, food preparation, sanitation, garbage disposal, and employee hygiene.
In regard to food preparation, only 18 per cent of the businesses effectively protected food from contamination while a mere 11 per cent had safe meat thawing practices.
Food handlers in only 13 per cent of establishments used gloves. As it relates to sanitation, only four per cent of establishments’ workers were observed applying the correct principles of cleaning and sanitising.
Of the 99 food samples submitted, 37 per cent was unsatisfactory, and of the 102 hands of workers that were swabbed after washing, 47 per cent was unsatisfactory.
Furthermore, 46 per cent of the 48 food service containers (food boxes) sampled was unsatisfactory.
In light of the findings, the GA-FDD will be embarking on an initiative to ensure food establishments comply with sanitary regulations.