Administration report of the Public Health Department of the City of Port-of-Spain.

  • Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago). Public Health Department
Date:
[1958]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Administration report of the Public Health Department of the City of Port-of-Spain. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Health Department and continue to expose and sell their foodstuffs under the most primitive con¬ ditions. If only the toll of morbidity and even mortality taken by foodstuffs sold under such conditions and consumed at home or in public places, in the way of inflamed stomachs or irritable intestines, could be set down in figures, the time lost and suffering experienced would add up to a formidable total. Still it cannot be said that the picture is that black in every respect. The regular and permanent itinerant vendors do make an effort to comply and do succeed in complying in large measure with the provisions of the bye-laws by providing themselves with covered trays and clean aprons and uniforms, but here again the difficulty lies in the lack of equipment that is within the pocket of this type of vendor and at the same time gives the prospective purchaser an opportunity to see and examine the foodstuffs that he would like to purchase, without exposing the article to contamination in the process. In so far as shops, parlours, restaurants, hotels, &c., are concerned, we cannot record the same degree of disappointment with the results of our efforts. The newer and more recently built shops, parlours, restaurants, are made to show the necessary fixtures and equipment when- plans are being passed, and even in the older food places or in a food place converted into such from a dwelling house or other building it is possible to get proper cleansing equipment, enclosed cupboards, running water and a proper sanitary kitchen. The struggle with the old improvised foodshop in some obscure hole in an old dilapidated dwelling or in the space originally left between old dilapidated dwellings continues, but as long as slum areas persist hr the City and particularly in the down-town areas of the City it is going to be very difficult to deal with this type of foodshop except by complete closure, which magistrates are extremely loath to do. In the meantime these particular shops, parlours and restaurants do a thriving business and cater to a large variety of people who frequent the down-town areas of the City in the course of their work, and who perforce have to partake of food, whose only value to the economy seems to be that it invariably succeeds in making more work for the doctor. Sale of Foodstuffs Bye-laws Registration of Shops, Etc. (1958) Provision, Meat, and Spirit Shops, Restaurants, Hotels, Refreshment Parlours Ground Provision and Fruit Shops Bakehouses Confectionery Shops Aerated Water Factories ... Other Factories ... Total 1958 Total 1957 279 17 5 1 1 9 312 275 Registration of Vendors (1958) Bread and Cakes Confectionery Cooked Food including Fries, Souse, &c. Ice Cream and Palets Sweet Drinks Vegetables, Greens, Fruits Miscellaneous Total 1958 Total 1957 No. of Badges issued to Itinerant Vendors ... No. of Oyster Vendors Licensed under Sale 41 39 52 24 37 110 71 374 542 . 359 (473—1957) of Oyster Bye-laws... 3 (4—1957)
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