passing the buck?

But this still leaves our nation looking very poorly! How is it that after all these months of seeing the wreckage of Cholera in the western part of the island, we in DR have not YET gotten the message THAT ALL concerns dealing with food preparation NEED to step it up with hygiene and sanitary standards? How is it possible for Private concerns to not have the highest standards regrading food preparation? I mean. if the richest now have to question the quality standards what dear god are the rest of the visitors to DR expected to have along with their daily food preparation? Again, very poorly done and they better step it up or the international tourists will see fit to ride this out until we get the message: institute high quality standards and MONITOR and on a consistent basis or forgetaboutit.

All private and public food preparation concerns MUST have all their personnel vaccinated against Cholera.

Basta ..you are completely wrong as is Atabey ..I am informed that the problem had nothing to do with Casa de Campo nor even with the caterer but from the supplier of the seafood who probably came from the capital and got his supplies from different sources ..It had absolutely nothing to do with the preperation of the food .
Rotten luck that the contaminated seafood landed on a table of a wedding party in east DR but the seafood could have been sent anywhere

Ricardolito, you are missing the point Atabey is making. if i understand him correctly, he is not placing the blame on the resort, but on the fact that whatever party is involved has failed to adhere to appropriate standards of quality control regarding the procurement and provision of food items. we are talking about expensive items here, supplied to well heeled people. this is not some casual transaction, wherein Fausto is buying some pica pollo from Belkis. the types of people involved in transacting business with Casa de Campo types are not street vendors. they are well connected, well heeled purveyors, generally with well evolved operations. they should be mindful of the need for strict examination and investigation of the acceptability of the products they dispense. no amount of buck passing will work here. had this been the USA, they would have been the subject of a consumer product lawsuit, which would quite likely have bankrupted this entity.

I grill all meats in DR now... Drink Presidente, rum, and bottled water only!

Dominicans have wonderful intestinal resilience. they can eat rocks. i see some things they eat, and some of that stuff would kill a rhinoceros. fish hanging from sticks all day in the blazing heat outside Bonao. pork sitting out all day, in 90 degrees. strings of meat in roadside stands. pica pollo, fried today, still unsold tomorrow morning. empanadas in showcases, yesterday´s version. that stuff kills foreigners, whose stomachs cannot fight off the local bacteria. when you come from a country where the health department forces restaurants to use only stainless steel for certain equipment, and makes routine checks for hygeine, you cannot simply take a chance and eat stuff here. you have to ponder your choices wisely. nothing that is not well done is a good idea. no medium rare burgers, unless you have a carton of Charmin close at hand.

I think that Atabey was trying to put the blame on the preperation of the food ...but that was not the case here ,,as I understand it the authorities are trying to find out exactly where the seafood came from .I am told that the rented house had many occupanys for days before the actual wedding and the catering was from the same company during that time ..but there were no problems then ..It was solely the seafood at the wedding

Ricardolito, if you read Atabey´s posting carefully, he is at pains not to point fingers at any specific party, insofar as he uses the term ALL CONCERNS. take a little time to read his posting more carefully before replying.

With so many extravagant weddings, where no expense is spared - it is always surprising that the one area people seem to go on the cheap, is with the catering! This wedding was NOT catered by Casa de Campo, rather an external catering company - one that does not adhere to the same standards of quality, controls and strickt food safety guidelines.

While it is true that Casa de Campo catering services might indeed be somewhat more expensive, you get what you pay for - safety, hygiene, piece of mind and no corners being cut. Apparently, this external caterer sourced the shrimp for the wedding from Pedernales, on the boarder of Haiti - which was probably at a considerably 'savings'. Also it is reported that they did not do the necessary pre-cooking...

Casa de Campo is paranoid about food safety, having just spent millions of dollars on new kitchen areas - all to ensure that not no-one gets sick, but that anyone enjoying their food and services, will have the best possible experien

thanks for the public service announcement.

"Written by: dreadlocks, 28 Jan 2011 11:42 AM
From: United States
Ricardolito, you are missing the point Atabey is making. if i understand him correctly, he is not placing the blame on the resort, but on the fact that whatever party is involved has failed to adhere to appropriate standards of quality control regarding the procurement and provision of food items."

Yes, Dread you are correct; that's what I was trying to get across. Part of any sane and internationally competent standard of Food Preparation is the quality of the ingredients used to Prepare the Food. I would expect, indeed, demand that the prices paid by people in this area justifies the additional quality standard of "top quality." I don't expect the sources of my meal to come from some "unknown" sources or street vendor. If these concerns can so cavalierly manage the food budget, what other cutting corners deals will they stoop to? Not a good sign Ricardolito.

Two of my clients just came back from that disaster, unfortunately for DR we are getting a really bad rap from very high profile people that could have been future investors. They found the place to be stunningly beautiful, but coming back to NYC with bugs in their stomachs was not what they expected. According to one of them there was a lot of seafood just laying on ice, I cant believe that the hosts/organizers were so careless as to not foresee the dangers of this. Well I guess they were really trying to impress by the personalities that were there from many parts of the world, too bad the impression is going to be so negative.

I find it amazing how some people cheer when something unfortunate like this happens!

This is an unfortunate incident but in the end it will pass ..literally

These things can happen in any country including the good old USA!

So stop bashing the country if you hate it so much get the hell out.

Bad publicity is here now but does only happen in DR. With such a large group, the meal was probably (however I don't know), a buffet. Sea foods, meats, should never be left out of a refrigerated area more than 1-2 hours. You take in consideration the prep time, travel, setting up, serving and there you go.
Unfort. this also happens in top class all inclusive resorts here and elsewhere, maybe not reported as a group. Buffet is often set up from 5:00 pm to 8:00pm. Would you leave seafood and meat out on your table for 3 hours at this temperature?

underpar muses

I find it amazing how some people cheer when something unfortunate like this happens!

who is cheering?