Business View Caribbean - April 2016 17
CDB Funds Training for Food
Service Professionals in Dominica
As the government of Dominica focuses on enhancing
its hospitality sector and improving opportunities for
tourism investment, it is driving initiatives to provide
best-practice training for local food service business-
es.
From March 21 to 23, 2016, 30 environmental health
officers and representatives from Dominica’s micro,
small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) partici-
pated in the ServSafe food safety and training work-
shop, conducted and funded by the Caribbean Devel-
opment Bank (CDB).
“CDB supports the government of Dominica as it fo-
cuses on the importance of food safety and the role it
plays in economic development. We are pleased to be
collaborating with the ministry of health to deliver this
workshop, specially designed for local food service
professionals through the internationally and region-
ally recognized ServSafe food safety program,” said
Edward Greene, division chief, Technical Cooperation
Division, CDB.
The ServSafe program is an accredited, United States-
based educational course that provides comprehen-
sive training for food service professionals. It is accept-
ed throughout the Caribbean region and recognized as
a fundamental certification for food handlers.
During the three-day workshop, participants explored
food safety principles and techniques such as clean-
ing and sanitation; hazard analysis and critical con-
trol points; methods of thawing, cooking, cooling and
reheating food; safe food preparation; and time and
temperature control.
At the end of the workshop, participants took the
ServSafe food protection manager examination. Suc-
cessful participants will receive the ServSafe food
protection manager certificate, which is valid for a
period of five years. Participants will also develop ac-
tion plans to upgrade the food safety practices at their
establishments, with the help of certified ServSafe in-
structors. The ministry of health in Dominica will help
participants implement these plans.
The Caribbean Technological Consultancy Services
Network (CTCS), managed in the Bank’s Technical Co-
operation Division, oversaw the delivery of the work-
shop. “CTCS was specifically designed to help CDB
fulfill its commitment to enhancing the capacity of
MSMEs throughout the Caribbean Region. This work-
shop is one way in which we continue to turn that com-
mitment into action, to boost the livelihoods of our Re-
gion’s entrepreneurs,” Greene said.
Workshop facilitators were Julie-Ann Laudat of JAL
Training and Consultancy Services, a company based
in Antigua and Barbuda, and Lionel Michael, chief
health inspector of the ministry of health in Antigua
and Barbuda. Both Laudat and Michael are trained
and certified ServSafe instructors and proctors.
The workshop in Dominica followed successful pi-
lots run by CTCS in Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat
and Guyana over the past two years. The workshop,
a technical assistance intervention, aligns with CDB’s
strategic objective to promote broad-based economic
growth by providing support to private sector develop-
ment, which aims to enhance the viability of MSMEs.
