By Carl Gilchrist——

ST ANN’S BAY, St Ann:

SEVERAL FOOD vendors at Faith’s Pen in St Ann may soon have to close shop as the St Ann Health Department has indicated it has run out of patience with them to get their health certificates.

Addressing the monthly meeting of the St Ann Parish Council last Thursday, public-health inspector for the parish, Karen Brown, said the department will be taking action in short order, against those who are non-compliant.

“For quite some time now, the health department has been trying to work with the vendors to bring them up to compliance,” Brown disclosed. “We have decided that the time has run out now and we will have to take some action to have the vending arcade come up to compliance. It’s something that needs to be addressed.”

She added: “We will be taking whatever action the health department needs to take and it will be done in short order.”

The Faith’s Pen Food Arcade is a popular stop along the Kingston to north coast route where persons can treat themselves to a wide assortment of Jamaican foods.

Meanwhile, the rate of compliance among food handling establishments in the parish remains above the three-quarter mark.

In the St Ann’s Bay/Ocho Rios area, 76 per cent of the establishments are compliant, in Claremont 76 per cent, Alexandria 87 per cent and Brown’s Town 80 per cent.