BY PHESHEYA IAN KUNENE
MBABANE – As food poisoning incidents among children climb to concerning levels in South Africa, Eswatini Schools Committee and Parents Association (ESCAPA) is heightening awareness and calling for inspectors to tighten the grip during inspections.
While speaking to journalists, ESCAPA President Cedric Chirwa shared that parents have approached the association to express their concern over the surge in the number of food poisoning cases affecting children in the neighboring country. He said the parents begged the association to be vigilant and proactive while dealing with this alarming issue.
“Parents have asked to quickly respond to this issue and prevent it from happening in the country. As a matter of fact, we will be meeting with the relevant ministries to discuss plans on how we are going to prevent this food poisoning issue from invading the country, we have been asked by concerned parents to be proactive and protect children from contaminated food,” Chirwa said.
Moreover, Chirwa called for greater vigilance from food inspectors when they visit shops across the country as he said in most cases shops stored the food sold to the public together with dangerous chemicals which leads to the food being contaminated.
“Food inspectors should make sure that the food being sold to the public is properly stored and packaged, we encourage the inspectors to conduct the inspections regularly, even to the shops situated in the rural areas,” he added.
Furthermore, he urged shop owners to be vigilant when storing their stock to make sure that the stored food is not mixed and further penetrated by dangerous chemicals. He shared that is was discovered in South Africa that the food poisoning was caused by a dangerous chemical substance that had penetrated the food it was stored with.
Ministry of Health Communication Officer Nsindiso Tsabedze asked parents not to panic but be vigilant with what their children consume. He added that as a ministry they are closely following the issue and were on high alert.
“We are following this issue with keen interest. The health department is doing all it can to raise awareness and protect the nation from contaminated food. We have increased our safety measures when it comes to food being imported into the country and also our inspectors are hard at work making sure that the food being sold to the public for human consumption is safe. We urge parents and the public at large not to panic but instead be vigilant,” Tsabedze said.
Recent statistics highlight a disturbing trend, with over 300 reported cases of food poisoning among school children in South Africa. Tragically, eight children lost their lives due to food poisoning, with the most recent case involving a two-year-old from Bushbuckridge who consumed snacks from a tuck shop. Health experts emphasized that while schools should ensure that healthy snacks are available in school-based tuck shops, the responsibility of monitoring children’s food intake lies heavily with parents.