The Mandela Metro blitz on food inspections gathers momentum as part of the on-going food inspection blitz programme, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), on Friday the 12th of April 2019 visited retailers in the Motherwell area.
The team, led by Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Public Health, Cllr Yolisa Pali and Ward 54 Councillor, Morgan Tshaka carried out inspections on both large and small retail shops and food outlets including small spaza shops. A total of 5 shopping centres were visited and 18 food outlets were inspected.
Out of the 18 shops inspected, two (2) shops were closed due to gross non-compliance. Five (5) shops were found trading without a Certificate of Acceptability (CoA) in terms of Regulation 638 of the regulations governing the general hygiene in food handling premises. The shops trading without CoA’s were instructed to immediately apply for the required documents or face criminal proceedings.
General Hygiene and structural compliance of outlets were inspected, as well as Health & Hygiene training records of staff employed by the outlets, waste removal contracts, as well as pest control programs which are required by the outlets.
“What we are doing here is to try and prevent outbreaks of diseases. A lot of these shops sell rotten food, food prepared in unhealthy ways and food not properly stored, which causes a lot of health concerns”, said MMC Pali.
Microbial surface swabs were also taken to determine compliance with the regulations. Ten cooking oil samples were taken of which seven were found to be in compliance while three samples from popular food outlets were found to be non-compliant. The shop owners were requested to remove the unsound cooking oil immediately.
Bacteriological food samples of cooked food which is sold to the public was also taken and dispatched to a laboratory to determine whether it is complaint and safe to consume. Unsound food that was on display and for sale to the public was also confiscated and condemned.
“In terms of the norms and standards for environmental health monitoring, some of the premises are visited once per quarter, and some premises are visited twice per year depending on the risk factors”, said MMC Pali.
Follow up inspections will be conducted in the near future.
NMB Communications
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