The country’s National Food Safety Policy, specifically the Meat Hygiene Programme, has been further boosted by the Ministry of Health’s introduction of some 400 new and improved meat inspection stamps, manufactured at a cost of $3.5 million.

The stamps, which were unveiled during a brief launch at Juici Patties Limited’s headquarters, in Clarendon, on November 26, are uniquely designed to correspond with the registration number of each of the Ministry’s 400 Public Health Inspectors, to whom they will be assigned for use in the inspection and stamping of meat products processed from animals legally slaughtered, to verify their safety for public consumption.

In personalizing the stamps, the Ministry anticipates that this will go a far way in enhancing the Inspectors’ accountability for the devices, and serve as a deterrent for the incidence of purported theft and misplacement, as well as misuse by persons who have reportedly engaged in illegal animal slaughtering.

The new stamps, which replace the rubber versions previously used, are manufactured by the Jamaican firm, Seals and Engravables, and have been modeled off the design used by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA).

The devices use an irremovable food-safe ink that dries within a few seconds of being used to apply the requisite mark on animal carcasses, unlike that used on the rubber stamp, and the manufacturer has indicated that the imagery produced by the new stamp is sharper and easily recognizable when properly applied.

Two hundred and fifty stamps will initially be distributed to Inspectors, with the remainder scheduled for delivery thereafter. The existing rubber stamps will be recalled and destroyed by the Health Ministry.

Music Style