THE St Ann Health Department has launched a public education campaign aimed at sensitising residents on how to prevent ackee poisoning.

The health department said “unscrupulous people” have been found to be beating, ‘sweating’ and burying unripe ackee in order to get the fruit open. It said that this has become a common practice in the parish and is urging residents and vendors to be careful when purchasing or cooking the fruit.

Medical officer of surveillance, Dr Francine Phillips-Kelly, said the campaign, under the theme ‘Ackee Delight’, is being done through edutainment as a means of getting the message across. She said, while skits, poetry and music are used to convey the message, the primary objective is to educate.

Phillips-Kelly said in light of the recent cases of ackee poisoning, and one reported death in the parish, the health department created the intervention programme to prevent future incidents.

Last week the health department, with the assistance of 21 National Youth Service workers, visited markets across the parish educating vendors and the wider public through various skits and musical pieces.

The group from Ocho Rios, during their drama piece ‘Don’t beat it, sweat it, bury it, or purchase from a cokehead,’ to the surprise of many vendors and shoppers, showed how easy it is to use a knife to open the fruit when unripe.

“There have been some practices that we are concerned about which involves beating and cutting open the ackees. In some instances the ackee is buried in the dirt or covered with leaves. We want persons to desist from these practices because they have dangerous consequences,” Shauna Llewellyn Gordon, parish health education and promotion officer, said.

She indicated that the programme was not aimed at discouraging people from eating the national fruit, but served to encourage them to prepare the dish properly and not to buy from “unscrupulous people” who may be forcing the fruit open.

Patrice Brown-Thomas, health education officer with the health department, told vendors that the ripe ackee is supposed to look like a yawn with all seeds exposed.

She also explained that the ackee, when naturally opened, will return to the state of a wide yawn if the pods of the fruit are squeezed together. However, for a fruit that was forced open, it is likely to stay closed.

Although ackee poisoning is more prevalent in the colder months of the year, there are still reported cases at this time. Dr Phillips-Kelly said people need to follow the acquiring, buying, cooking, and discarding steps for fit and safe ackee to prevent poisoning. She also urged people not to cook ackee as part of a one-pot meal.

Ackee poisoning is caused from the high concentration of hypoglycin A that is found in the unripe fruit. Symptoms of poisoning include excessive sweating, rapid breathing, racing of the heart, weakness, vomiting seizures, and low blood pressure.