David Darmanin
After 200kg of ricotta were seized by Health Authorities for having been found in storage at temperatures exceeding 8 degrees Celsius, the Ministry of Health is refusing to reveal the identity of the company or companies responsible, citing pending court proceedings.
But the Food Safety Act, administered by the Health Ministry itself, obliges the Health Regulation Division to keep a public register, in which any enforcement undertaking is recorded. Names of companies or individuals involved in the undertaking are featured in the same register.
The law states that the “register shall be kept at an office specified by the health authority, and shall be available for viewing by any person at such times as may be established by the health authority.”
In the past, Health Regulation Division director John Attard Kingswell had no qualms in obliging with information featured in the register. But when asked to reveal the names of the companies involved in the ricotta seizure, questions were diverted to the Health Ministry, which, in turn, refused to provide the required information.
A fresh set of questions were sent to the ministry, asking whether it considers itself to be in breach of its own law in refusing to reveal the information required.
This time, the replies came from the division, not from the ministry – to whom the questions were originally sent.
“The article only applies to undertakings. This is not one of them,” Attard Kingswell said.
“This is a contravention and therefore the offender will be charged in court. An undertaking is when a food premises’ operator accepts to remedy deficiencies in his premises within a stipulated time rather than facing court procedures. That is why in this case the information is kept in a register and made public because obviously, he would have admitted to the deficiencies.”
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