Executive chefs, kitchen managers and supervisors are expected to benefit from a free three-day ServSafe Food Safety Protection Management Course hosted by the Ministry of Health and Social Development in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organization.

Human resources personnel and financial officers within the food industry and the Tourism, Agriculture and Health Sectors within the public service are also expected to benefit from the training course that will be held from October 27 to 29 at Maria’s by the Sea.

Deputy Chief Environmental Health Officer, Ms. Henrietta Alexander said ServSafe is a USA based five-year certification training course in Food Safety Science that is internationally recognised and accepted by several countries. It emphasises the importance of preventing foodborne diseases within food businesses and focuses on the technical and managerial aspects of food safety which is applicable to the Virgin Islands.  

Ms. Alexander said, “We are targeting persons in senior positions because it is their responsibility to ensure that good and safe food practices are observed by everyone in their respective food business. This training is more advanced than the food safety course that we teach [due to time constraints]. It is intense and participants will learn about food hazards, food preparation, calibration of thermometers and sanitation of equipment and facilities.

Persons who work in the food industry and are interested in obtaining this certification, should email their name, place of employment and position to ehd@gov.vg and cc: halexander@gov.vg. 

Persons who were certified in the previous ServSafe course in September 2016 and are interested in renewing their certification should also take advantage of this opportunity early, as spaces are limited.

The Ministry of Health and Social Development is committed to ensuring that all aspects of the environment with the potential to negatively impact the health of the population are managed efficiently to enable all persons in the BVI to attain and maintain optimal health and well-being.