Sanitation inspectors from the Quezon City health department have started organizing food handler classes for food vendors near schools to protect QC students from contracting diseases brought about by unsafe food preparation practices.
Barangay halls and health centers have been designated as venues for the food handler classes, which will be conducted for at least three consecutive sessions, mostly in the afternoon.
City health officer Antonieta Inumerable said program priority will be food peddlers operating within the vicinity of schools located in the second district, which constitutes majority of QC’s poor constituents.
“What we are doing right now is urge ambulant vendors to strictly comply with the city’s sanitation requirements,” Inumerable said.
Ambulant vendors are required to secure health certificates and sanitation permits from the city health department before they will be allowed to operate.
Inumerable wants, if possible, that only packed food items should be sold to QC schoolchildren to avoid food contamination.
Aside from organizing food handler classes, personnel from the sanitation division have also stepped up the inspection of school canteen facilities to determine their compliance with sanitation requirements.
Also being monitored are the toilet and water facilities of the different QC schools.
QC has about 95 public elementary schools and 46 high schools spread over the city’s 142 barangays. Precy/ Ej/ Maureen Quinones, PAISO
