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In Lithuania, the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) continues to inspect commercial and catering establishments when new cases of COVID-19 are detected.
In order to assess the growing risk of coronavirus, inspections of supermarkets, markets, shops, as well as restaurants, cafes, bars and other mass catering companies throughout the country are aimed at determining the fulfillment of the responsibilities of the Operations Manager for the prevention of this infection.
In almost a month and a half, that is, from August to October, when SFVS inspectors inspected more than 600 establishments and more than 1,000 catering establishments, violations were detected in approximately one-tenth of the cases, mainly in the regions of Alytus, Marijampolė and Vilnius.
The inspections were carried out not only during business hours, but also on weekends, when the flow of buyers and visitors was greater than usual. Furthermore, a significant number of inspections were organized in cooperation with specialists from local municipal administrations. The results of inspections during this period have shown that employers still do not pay enough attention to assessing the health of workers, such as not measuring the body temperature of workers upon arrival at work (i.e. companies have not yet they have a procedure for evaluating workers’ health, they don’t allow workers to measure the temperature themselves). , because there is no thermometer, or it is not checked whether the workers actually comply with this requirement)
It was found that in a third of the cases, the mandatory regulation of customer and visitor flows was not ensured, taking into account the store area, to avoid congestion. Buyers do not observe a safe distance at the checkout while waiting in line or if a buyer does not have time to assemble the merchandise, another buyer is already being served, and in some places the mandatory distances between those waiting in line do not are marked.
A significant number of commercial and catering establishments lacked information to draw the attention of visitors to the need for personal hygiene and the use of masks, that is, this information was not provided at all or was only partially provided.
Inspections have also shown that frequently touched surfaces (especially shopping baskets, trolleys, visitor tables) are not properly cleaned and disinfected (eg, surface disinfectants with an expired shelf life). Also, in some cases, buyers did not have the opportunity to sanitize their hands or wear disposable gloves.
Also in some cafes and restaurants self-service catering was organized, there were cases in which sugar, salt, sauces and other food products were presented in common utensils or packaging, although such presentation is not allowed.
It is noted that all inspected retail and catering establishments responded in good faith to the warnings and rectified any irregularities identified during the inspections.
The SFVS emphasizes that the main preventive measures for the growth of coronavirus infection in the country are effective control of employees, mandatory regulation of customer and visitor flows, frequent contact with surfaces (baskets and shopping carts , coffee tables, door handles, electrical switches). , supports for chairs, etc.), as well as a sufficient number of means to disinfect the hands of visitors, dissemination of information that draws attention to the need to observe personal hygiene and the use of masks.
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