By Mava Scott
The tragic cases of food-borne illnesses have brought to the fore pressing concerns over the health, safety and hygiene standards in community retail outlets. While these outlets provide a valuable service to communities, their inadequate hygiene practices often leave communities vulnerable to foodborne illnesses.
Addressing the nation on government’s interventions against foodborne illnesses, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “Spaza shops and street vendors have a special responsibility for the health and safety of their customers. They need to operate responsibly and in terms of the law. They need to observe certain basic practices.”
The poor storage and handling of chemical substances together with food items by community outlets compromises food safety and is behind the reported severe illnesses and deaths our nation has recently experienced. Moreover, the sale of restricted pesticides is highly hazardous and detrimental to customers. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases found that the deaths of the six children in Naledi, Soweto was directly attributed to a chemical used as a pesticide known as Terbufos.
Government is implementing a three-pronged approach to deal with the situation. It includes getting hazardous pesticides off the street, protecting children from exposure to these substances and preventing any future outbreaks. From now on all spaza shops and food handling facilities must register at their local municipality within 21 days from the 15 November 2024 and meet required health standards or be closed.
Government has put together multidisciplinary teams which will conduct compliance inspections of all spaza shops, food handling facilities, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers. There will be added scrutiny of manufacturers of Terbufos to ensure proper controls are in place and the pesticide is used only for agricultural purposes.
The interventions build on work underway through the new Standard Draft By-Law for Township Economies to curb illnesses and deaths due to food contamination. The by-law directs all business activities to align with public health and safety regulations. This includes hygiene and waste removal which is critical to ensuring community health and safety.
The new regulations will also help root out those who are not adhering to legitimate business practices including the sale of expired food items to customers. While it allows individuals with business licenses to conduct businesses within designated areas, background checks including citizenship status checks will be undertaken. Those who disregard the laws and health regulations for conducting business will be issued with a written warning or cancellation of their business licenses.
While every effort is undertaken to advance health hygiene among vendors, government urges parents and guardians to be vigilant on the well-being of their children and to closely monitor what they consume, particularly items purchased outside school premises.
As part of the interventions to prevent future outbreaks and protect children from exposure, all schools will be required to implement protocols to prevent and manage foodborne illnesses within schools. It includes the review and updating of guidelines for schools on the management of suppliers of foodstuffs to public schools by the start of the school year next year.
Let us also make it our responsibility to educate children about food safety including remaining vigilant when purchasing food items, especially those that have passed their sell by date or have expired. We can keep our children and community safe by cooperating with local environmental health practitioners by reporting anyone violating food safety regulations.
Communities can also report any business that violates food safety regulations to the nearest police station or by dialling 0800 10111 or via the MySAPS App. Anyone who sees fake foodstuffs and expired items being sold should report them to the National Consumer Commission on 012 065 1940.
We all have a responsibility for the safety and well-being of those around us, particularly the children of our nation. Through working together, being alert and responsible, we will be able to bring an end to the heart wrenching tragedies our nation has experienced.
Mava Scott is GCIS Chief Director: Cluster JCPS