By SITHEMBILE HLATSHWAYO | 2024-12-04

THE Municipal Council of Mbabane yesterday cracked down on 15 food outlets, removing damaged, expired, and incorrectly labelled (food) items during an impromptu raid.

This is in a bid to curb food poisoning in the country.
Public health inspectors raided some retail outlets and supermarkets in the city yesterday, resulting in some outlets remaining half empty.

The raid, conducted by the uncompromising public health officials from the Mbabane Municipal Council, the ministry of commerce, industry and trade, the Eswatini Competition Commission, police, and the Eswatini Dairy Board, started at 10am and continued until midday.

This occurred during the Council’s Food Safety Awareness Week, ahead of the festive holidays.
Fourways Spices is among the outlets that were inspected, which resulted in the shop being left half empty as the public health inspectors removed items that did not have proper labelling from the manufacturer.

It was discovered that the shop pre-packages its items, which did not include the manufacturing date, ingredients, and nutritional information, among other things.

A large quantity of the spices was removed from the shelves. Other shops included HELLO Supermarket and Mbabane Supermarket.

Most of the retail outlets and wholesalers are owned by Asian nationals.
Following the reported food poisoning incidents in neighbouring South Africa (SA), the country is now more vigilant about what is sold in shops, especially food outlets.

South Africa recorded a major poisoning incident in Naledi, Soweto township near Johannesburg last month, where six children died after buying snacks at spaza shops. The youngest was just six years old.

The South African government declared the poisonings a national disaster and announced stringent measures to control the increasing number of child deaths due to food poisoning from illegal pesticides across the country.

Addressing the media after the inspection, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gciniwe Fakudze stated that they discovered during the inspection that some shops were selling expired food, while others had tampered with the labelling, validity, and expiry dates.

Notices
She said the food outlets that were found to be in the wrong were served with contravention notices.

“As a country, we are fortunate that no one has fallen sick from the sold illegal items.”
Fakudze noted that other shops had damaged items, which was also unacceptable, adding that the Council needed to do more in terms of educating business owners.

The CEO stated that about 2 840 kg of food was confiscated from various food outlets, which was incinerated and destroyed at the landfill as per the requirements of the law.

She explained that they launched the Safety Awareness Week in light of the fact that it is now December, a festive month.

Fakudze mentioned that the issues of food safety and health had been in the spotlight recently, following what transpired in South Africa.

She warned that if not monitored, food safety issues could spiral out of control.
Fakudze said they visited shops located along three streets: Bethusile, Gwamile, and the Industrial Sites. “We are pleased to report that we found businesses that are compliant with the laws.”

She indicated that there were businesses where they needed to tighten regulations to remind them of the importance of compliance.

This, she said, was very important because just one or two expired tins could have deadly consequences if consumed by a single family.

She stated that the responsibility of the Council, among other things, was to look at food and health safety in the city from various angles.

The CEO said the focus was mainly on those businesses that sell food. She noted that food outlets were high risk, thus they were inspected most frequently to avoid food poisoning and disease outbreaks.

These outlets, she said, were rated very highly.
Fakudze added that there were also businesses that sold unprocessed food, which were also rated quite highly.

According to the CEO, they had a department under public health, and their responsibility was ensuring that the nation consumes healthy food purchased in the retail outlets. Fakudze stated that government had delegated power to the municipalities, which use various legislations to ensure that the outlets are compliant.

She mentioned that business owners were aware of the laws, hence they were not surprised by the inspections. Fakudze explained that business owners were first taken through the expectations to equip them with knowledge as they conduct their business.

The CEO noted that other eateries had certificates on the walls that grade them. This, she said, was also part of their programme to ensure compliance.

Fakudze thanked the business owners who adhered to the rules and regulations and encouraged those found to be non-compliant that they would continue to remind them. She stated that they would continue this week to inspect more premises, adding that what was most important was education.

The CEO concluded that as the campaign continued, they would also educate business people, especially those dealing with food.

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