By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A MONTH after suspected conch poisoning cases were first reported, Bahamas Agricultural Health and Food Safety Authority (BAHFSA) officials said investigations are ongoing and noted the advice is still to avoid raw conch.

Dr Patricia Johnson, BAHFSA’s director for food, safety and quality, along with Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) officials, visited Potter’s Cay Dock yesterday to hold a training session for food vendors on how to prevent the contamination of conch. The training covered topics such as food safety and hygiene as well as sanitation and consequences for non-compliance.

Last month, BAHFSA said it was aware of suspected conch poisoning cases. It cautioned consumers to avoid eating fresh conch at this time or conch that they suspect was not properly handled and/or prepared until the source of the contamination can be determined.

Asked by The Tribune if it was safe to eat conch yet, Dr Johnson answered: “The investigation is still ongoing and so I would still caution persons to avoid conch especially persons who have compromised immune systems at this time. BAHFSA will announce when this investigation has ended and it’s closed and it’s safe to consume raw conch but the advice is to avoid raw conch.”

However people can still consume conch if it is properly cooked.

The number of cases of suspected conch poisoning is unclear as Nurse Joanna Chambers said many who experience the illness do not report to a health care centre.

“That creates a problem for us and our data collection,” Nurse Chambers said.

Meanwhile, officials will be inspecting conch stalls to help vendors maintain compliance with food safety protocols.

Edward McPhee, who sells conch salad at his restaurant Bang’s, said there was “tremendous decrease of sales” since the suspected poisoning cases were announced.

“Some persons might say they could sell one or two conch salads,” he said. “I must say in the last few days I haven’t sold any. So I know how it is to be affected and that’s why I’m here.

“Before the outbreak of the conch poisoning, I could’ve sold like 10, 20 conch salads per day and be satisfied. But now not selling any, it’s really affecting (me).”

When asked about the customers he lost, he estimated: “I could say almost 90 percent because sometimes I sit up from morning, today on a day when I could normally make $300-$400 I’m making $30-$40.”

Earlier this month, infectious disease expert Dr Nikkiah Forbes said warm weather is to blame for the bacteria causing conch poisoning in the country, not the sanitary practices of vendors.

“The bacteria that generally causes this usually causes diarrhoea illnesses, gastroenteritis among other things. It is a seafood related diarrhoea illness. What it means is the organism lives in the marine environment usually,” Dr Forbes said.

“It is usually found in the shallow part of the salty water environment. This bacteria increases in the environment as the water temperature increases. In hot, salty water it causes seafood to get contaminated. Raw conch, oysters and seafood like that usually get contaminated.

“People have to be aware that you’re at risk for infection if you consume underwater seafood, particularly in hot summer months. That’s why conch poisoning comes up from time to time in hot water. If you put seafood in shallow containers, in hot salty water, the bacteria could multiply considerably and cause cross contamination. Cooked conch is different. “Freezing conch and cooking conch in warm temperatures kills the bacteria, so vendors have to be careful.

“The bacteria comes on the conch. You could have really good hygiene practice and there could just be a lot of this bacteria in the water and you could still get food poisoning.”