BY PHESHEYA IAN KUNENE
MBABANE – Following today’s discovery where some retail shop were found selling expired food items, the Municipal Council of Mbabane has promised to intensify the inspections of food outlets and retail shops around Mbabane.
The council made this statement through its CEO Gciniwe Fakudze during a press conference held at their offices where she revealed that while working alongside Royal Eswatini Police Service, Eswatini Competition Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade and Eswatini Dairy Board they would be cracking down on businesses that fail to comply with Food Safety and Hygiene laws.
While accompanied by the Director Community Services Busangaye Masina and Chief Environmental Health Officer Sibusiso Mncina, the CEO highlighted that they visited seven shops at Bethusile Street, two shops at the Industrial site and six shops in the Gwamile Street and mentioned that they were happy that most of the shops they visited during the mass inspection adhered with the food safety and hygiene laws. However, she shared that some shops were indeed found selling expired food items, damaged products and products that had their expiry dates tampered with.
“In collaboration with other bodies we conducted the mass inspections, mainly because it is December and the fact that we promote food safety and hygiene environment in businesses especially those dealing with food. We want the public to buy food that is safe for consumption and they must buy it at shops that are clean,” Fakudze said during the briefing.
Furthermore, she revealed that expired and damaged food items weighing about 2 840 kilograms was taken off shelves with the intention to destroy as it was dangerous for human consumption. She added that the team then sat down with the business owners of these shops and were warned not sell food items that was not safe and urged to adhere to the stipulated laws.
The inspection is in commemoration with the Food Safety Awareness Week and Fakudze insisted that more shops would be inspected to avoid a situation similar to that of our neighbouring country, South Africa, whereby a number of children and elder people have lost their lives due to food poisoning caused by food items sold at shops that do not follow the food safety and hygiene environment rules.
During the intense inspection, it was discovered that some shop were selling spices that do not have proper labeling from the manufacturer. It was revealed that the label should have an expiry date, manufacturing date, ingredients and nutritional information; however, some of the spices did not have the aforementioned details and were taken off shelves.
In one particular shop, it was discovered that the owners pre-pack and print their own labels that do not have adequate information.
“This means, they can change the expiry date as and when they please. Mbabane citizens are urged to be careful when shopping for food,” reads part of the statement shared by the council on their social media platforms.
The inspections come in the wake of increasing concerns over the safety of food being sold in some of the retail shops in town and surrounding areas. Fakudze said even though several non-compliance issues were identified, none of the shop owners were arrested; however she made it clear that they did talk to them. She said these inspections were just the beginning as the government as mandated them to ensure that shops were selling food items that was safe for human consumption.