BCC condemns tonnes of unsafe food in major crack down

Source: BCC condemns tonnes of unsafe food in major crack down – herald

Vusumuzi Dube, Deputy Radar Editor

THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) conducted more than 1 600 inspections recently, issuing dozens of notices and fines to non-compliant businesses while condemning large quantities of unwholesome food as part of intensified public health enforcement.

According to the latest council report, environmental health inspectors carried out 1 616 inspections during the month covering routine compliance monitoring, shop licence inspections, registration certificate renewals, health reports, domiciliary visits and inspections of non-trading premises.

The report states that businesses found violating public health and licensing regulations were issued with intimations and deposit fines, while unsafe food products were confiscated and destroyed.

“A total of 1 616 inspections were conducted for various purposes including routine monitoring for compliance, shop licence inspections, non-trading premises inspections, renewal of registration certificates, health reports and domiciliary visits. Non-compliant premises were issued with intimations and deposit fines. Unwholesome food was condemned,” reads the report.
Council issued 37 intimations to businesses operating in violation of health and licensing regulations.

The offences ranged from operating without valid shop licences or registration certificates to running illegal kitchens, food factories and restaurants.

Among businesses cited were Awesome Groceries, Sis Memory Kitchen, Preferred Butchery, Foodies Butchery, Willsgrove Food Market, Strong Fresh, Torino Foods, Jin Bao Supermarket, Maponga Hills Lodge, The Rock Butchery and several other supermarkets, butcheries, lodges and food outlets across the city.

Inspectors also issued 66 tickets for various offences, including operating without valid shop licences, unhygienic premises, illegal food preparation, exposing food to contamination risks and operating businesses without the required registration certificates.

Several businesses were penalised for operating illegal food factories, unlicensed restaurants and backyard kitchens, while others were cited for operating sports bars without liquor licences. Council also condemned substantial quantities of food deemed unsafe for human consumption.

Among the destroyed food were expired roller meal, flour, baked beans, sauces, tea, coffee, vegetables, pies, contaminated beef and pork, as well as uninspected meat products.

One of the largest seizures involved 679 kilogrammes of chicken condemned for being unwholesome, while 135 kilogrammes of gangrenous beef was condemned at ZRP Sauerstown.

At Strong Fresh in Belmont, inspectors destroyed 18,62kg of contaminated beef and 54,76kg of uninspected pork. The report also shows that seven public complaints were investigated during the month.

These included complaints relating to noise pollution at Cecil Hotel, illegal cooking and hair braiding on pavements in the city centre, refuse burning in Nkulumane, occupation of commercial premises without toilets, repair of buses on public streets and dust caused by unfinished roadworks along Matopos Road.

Council also processed 54 shop licence applications during May and examined 48 building plans.
Environmental health officers conducted food safety swabbing at 11 food premises, with results received from seven establishments.

Only 57 percent of the tested premises achieved satisfactory hygiene results.
The report noted that environmental health practitioners worked with managers of poorly performing premises to improve hygiene standards.

In addition, food handlers from supermarkets, restaurants and fast-food outlets, including Athens Supermarket, Chicken Inn Hillside, Pizza Inn Hillside, Bonsa Spar, Pick n Pay Zonkizizwe and Fresh and Green City, received training on safe food handling, personal hygiene and premises sanitation.

Various food samples were also collected and submitted to the Government Analyst Laboratory for detailed analysis as council continues strengthening food safety monitoring across the city.