St Vincent de Paul’s kitchen has been closed down as it was deemed a hazard. Photo: Paul Spiteri LucasSt Vincent de Paul home for the elderly was “in constant breach” of health and food hygiene regulations and it was difficult to understand how it was given “a clean bill of health” in previous months, a report by the Institute for Tourism Studies has concluded.
The report, extracts of which were seen by Times of Malta, also pointed out that the home for the elderly – the country’s largest – did not have a system to identify and control food safety hazards.
“In view of the fact that no HACCP [Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points or Security System] is in place… one fails to understand how the… kitchen was for the last few months given a clean bill of health,” according to the report, completed on May 30.
On Tuesday Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly Justyne Caruana announced that the kitchen would be closed down and rebuilt.
She took the decision after the environmental health directorate, in an inspection on May 9, found the kitchen to be in an “appalling state”, giving it a grade F. The kitchen had earned better grades in the past.
hen asked ITS to carry out its own inspection and give recommendations. In its report ITS spoke about “decades of neglect” and added that it was “a matter of time before a health crisis could develop”.
It was a matter of time before a health crisis could develop
The report also noted that the problems identified could have serious ramifications on the health and wellbeing of residents at the hospital and others who used the meals-on-wheels service.
In light of these damning conclusions, the government decided to close down the kitchen and, as an interim measure, issue a direct order to a private catering company, Health Care Services.
Opposition spokesman for the elderly Mario Galea accused the government of intentionally allowing the kitchen to deteriorate so that it could hand over the service to the private sector.
Tuesday’s press conference was an act of deceit
He described Tuesday’s press conference as “an act of deceit” as kitchen staff were called for a meeting with the administration before they could clean.
Moreover, he said, over the past months the government had not carried out maintenance at the kitchen and removed boiling pans without replacing them – making the place look shabbier.
Under the PN government the kitchen was never given a grade F, which meant it got worse under the current administration.
The government retaliated by saying that the Nationalist government had last refurbished the kitchen about 20 years ago.
“Contrary to the Opposition’s negativity, the government took immediate action within eight weeks since the publication of both reports. And now a project is under way for residents and workers to benefit from a completely new kitchen.”