Fire Update

Although fire officials have been unable to say what caused the blaze on Wednesday morning, they have been able to state where the fire actually began. The two storey wooden building ignited from the living quarters occupied by owner, Francisco “Panny” Arceo. Arceo, who works on North Ambergris Caye, had left home two days prior to the incident. In Arceo’s line of work he utilizes thinners which he kept at home. According to neighbors they heard an explosion from his room.
Arceo who originally had pegged his losses at $52,000 has now upped his estimate to $62,000. His home was insured, however, Mohamed Harmouch who lived on the other side of the lower flat, lost a major part of his personal belongings. As part of his personal belongings was his business, One Love Grocery which was also housed on the lower flat. Unfortunately for him, nothing was insured.

Related post: San Pedro Sun Blogspot

Catch of the Day!

On January 18th, 2009, Gary Guerrieri decided to take a fishing expedition with well known guide Hilly Boo. The big one did come in and Gary had the luck to fight with what ended up being a 96 inch Blue Marlin. After a long, arduous fight that lasted an hour and twenty minutes, Gary was able to reel his baby in. From Houston, Texas and visiting the island, staying at Xanadu Island Resort Guest, Gary loved his fishing adventure and was eager to pose for photographs alongside his blue baby.

BAHA warns of possible Salmonella poisoning

The Belize Agricultural Health Authority, the Ministry of Health and the Consumer Protection Unit are advising the public of the possible contamination of peanut butter. This is based on an alert issued by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States that peanut butter originating from the United States may be contaminated with Salmonella. Director of Food Safety Services at the Belize Agricultural Health Authority, Michael Dashield, told Love Fm more.

Michael Dashield; Director of Food Safety Services at the BAHA
“BAHA, the Ministry of Health and the Bureau of Standards are all part of a food safety network and we get alerts from them whenever there is a food born disease outbreak that has significance for transboundary movement. Once food is exported from one country to another and there is a problem in one country we get alerts even before the media gets a hold of it. It is from one food safety authority to another. We have had an alert on peanut butter which is actually an ongoing problem; it has not been resolved yet. They are still finding more and more products; there are already quite a number of products that the FDA has identified which comes from a plant in Georgia. This plat manufactures peanut paste.”

The Salmonella bacteria

The plant in Georgia is owned by the Peanut Corporation of America and the peanut butter and peanut paste it manufactures does not go directly to the consumers.
Michael Dashield; Director of Food Safety Services at the BAHA
“They do not put it in peanut butter jars. Those are pretty safe as far as we are concerned so far. The actual thing that consumers buy usually goes to institutions and processing plants that uses the peanut paste into other goods like pastry goods, ice cream and other goods so it is a wide spread. Belize actually does some importation of a number of products so BAHA as the competent authority agricultural health and food safety have been looking at the imports to see what we have. We have a data base of what has been imported and checking to see whether we have some of these things on the market. Our food safety inspectors and the BAHA people and the Ministry of Health and the Bureau of Standards are checking the shelves to see if some of these products are there getting them off the shelves.”
Dashield says that the Belize Agricultural Health Authority will continue to regulate all imports of peanut butter products and will pass on any new information to the public.

Click here for official Government Press Release

Coral for landfill?

Imagine using coral from the reefs for landfill! It sounds unthinkable, right? But that’s just what was happening on Bread and Butter Caye in the Stann Creek District. It is due east of Sittee River and these pictures show that developers were using living brain coral as landfill. Well now, the Department of the Environment has issued a warning advising the public that use of corals, particularly live ones must cease immediately. The release says that all offenders will be prosecuted.

Click here for official Government Press Release.
News source: Channel 7 News

Decomposed body of man found in SP

Venancio Tillett, deceased
The San Pedro Police Department is investigating the death of a man on the island. At about 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 18th, police were called to an area south of San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye in the Boca Ciega Area where police found the lifeless body of a man in the second stage of decomposition. The man, identified as 59-year-old Venancio Augustine Tillett, a resident of San Lazaro Village in the Orange Walk District, was a caretaker at Club Caribbean Resort. According to Police, Tillett was found in the water near some mangroves dressed in brown pants and a gray T-shirt, with no foot wear in Siete Canal in the Boca Ciega Channel. While no visible signs of violence were observed on the body, a post mortem examination was conducted on Monday, January 19th, to determine the cause of death.