The recent outbreak of Listeriosis in the country which also affected the Nelson Mandela Bay area has led to a serious vigilance in monitoring food business premises.
Today in Korsten business area, the municipality Environmental Health started a intensive programme of inspection, enforcement of compliance and closing down of non-compliant food shops across the City. This programme led by Public Health Mayoral Committee Member for Public Health, Councillor Lance Grootboom.
The programme includes, Environmental Health, Waste Management, Safety and Security and Fire and Emergency. The team of dedicated officials will check compliance issues like, safe food preparation, storage, handling of food products that are meant for public consumption and waste management. They will also check whether the premises are compliant with Fire and Emergency regulations.
The operation is planned to cover the whole Nelson Mandela Bay area. The ultimate goal is to ensure that operators who prepare and serve food within the Nelson Mandela Bay do that as per Environmental Health rules and regulations and in full compliance with the municipal bylaws. The team of about 50 municipal officials went out to different shops around Korsten area. During today’s operation 61 premises were visited.
This led to closure of 45 premises that did not have Certificates of Acceptability. A Certificate of Acceptability is issued in terms of the National Foodstuffs, Disinfectant and Cosmetic Act. It is a health certificate which is issued to a food-shop when they comply with all health requirements as required by the Act. Waste disposal was also found to be a serious problem as 60 of the businesses visited did not have a waste removal contract as required. The officials also confiscated foodstuffs from seven shops.
Speaking to some of the shop owners and street vendors in front of one of the shops that was closed, Councillor Grootboom said the intention of the municipality was to promote hygiene and make sure that businesses that handle food comply with the law.
“We have committed to creating a safe City for all the citizens of Nelson Mandela Bay. It is important as Public Health Directorate to make sure that the food they buy is safe. We will be working with businesses here, including those who do not comply to make sure that they comply. Our main intention is not to close them down, it is to make sure that they operate within the law and our residents are safe,” said Councillor Grootboom.
Deputy Director for Environmental Health, Dr Partick Nodwele said the operation will be going other hotspot areas that have been identified already. “Part of this programme is to empower them with knowledge so that it can be easy for them to comply. In situations where we see that allowing them to continue while fixing their problems will be too risky for consumers, we will be forced to close their premises up until compliance issues have been sorted out,” said Nodwele.
On completion of today’s operation, more than 60 business operators were already at Environmental Health offices to apply for Certicates of Compliance. Some of them were the ones who had their businesses closed while some claimed to have heard about the operation and wanted to be found on the right side of the law.
NMB Communications
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