health

Wide net cast for bad fish

LA PRENSA

seafood inspection982360

Seafood inspections conducted by the Ministerio de Salud (Minsa) will be extended to franchises in an effort to ensure that merchants comply with sanitation standards.

Reynaldo Lee, head of the Departamento de Protección de Alimentos at Minsa, said that the measure is part of their Lent operations.

In the last few weeks, Minsa has visited restaurants in various parts of the city, where it has discovered "irregularities" ranging from falsified documents and decomposing food to dead rats.

The findings have led Minsa to announce that, in accordance with health safety laws, it will place warning signs at the locales which do not comply with legal standards. However, it has not done so yet.

Lee explained that officials at Minsa have decided to change the wording of the signs from something like "This establishment is under observation and may lose its license" to "Warning: establishment improving sanitary conditions." That's so as "not to create a public panic," Lee said. He added that the signs should be ready in a few days.

And if the signs are taken down? The fine can be as much as $15,000, he warned.