Gauteng has a shortage of environmental health inspectors so dire that in Joburg, there is one official responsible for checking food sold to every 26,000 people.
There have been concerns about food safety in the province recently.
Tshwane also has a shortage, and this led to the city prioritising high risk areas.
City of Joburg’s director of environmental health, Peter Manganye, said the national department of health standard is one inspector for a population of 15,000 people.
“In a city that is forever growing, we are now sitting at an estimated six million people, you are then looking at around 600 inspectors that we should have but currently, we are sitting at 226 inspectors. Each of the seven regions has a different number of inspectors,” said Manganye.
He said the city has more than 10,000 formal premises, over 3,000 spaza shops plus informal traders.
“Collectively, you’re looking at quite a big number of people who are trading in food, from wholesalers to supermarkets, restaurants, bakeries and butcheries, all the way to the person selling fruit and vegetables on the streets or prepared food.
“The laws that apply to hygiene, apply to all of them, irrespective of where you are trading from. What we look at is fitness for human consumption. The food must be safe for people to eat and that is done through laboratory tests.”
He said different products had different shelf lives and could still be used even after that best before date.
He said people need to understand what best before and sell by/use by dates mean, adding that one would have to look at the products’ specific information in regards to how much longer beyond that best before date they can still consume it.
“Food becomes dangerous when it is contaminated with microorganisms or if it’s chemically contaminated,” said Manganye.
He said inspectors go out every day to conduct inspections.
“We have coordinated inspections sometimes [with] public safety, SAPS, metro police, home affairs...
“When we get there [for an inspection], the first thing we inspect is the premise and its suitability, especially in regards to the type of establishment it is. If it’s a place that is outside like your street food, then we mark down that you have no building and then we have to factor in the hygienic aspect of the fact that you are outside and not in premises and so we look at a lot of things, especially considering the checklist is over 50 and some things intertwine.”
He said after going through the checklist, an outlet would be given feedback and some time to fix an issue.
“It often differs depending on the problem we found and when we return and you didn’t fix it, then we take further steps often leading to the closure of establishments,” said Manganye.
MMC of public safety Mgcini Tshwaku said they wanted to understand where exactly spaza shop owners got products they sell.
“It’s also important to make sure that these tuck shops are regulated,” said Tshwaku.
Tshwane Lindela Mashigo said: "The City of Tshwane does not have sufficient EHPs [environmental health practitioners]. Therefore a risk management approach is utilised to prioritise high risk areas based on the available resources.”
He said the city has 5,000 formal traders and 2,000 informal traders, adding that the last inspection was done on September 11.
“Inspections at both formal and informal premises are done across all seven regions, based on the risk identified at the time, for example a joint inspection conducted in Region 3 on September 11. TMPD, SAPS and municipal health services were involved: four informal premises were inspected, eight fines and four compliance certificates were issued.
“The EHP will evaluate compliance of any food premises according to the mentioned legislation to protect the safety of the Tshwane community. Some of the findings at the above-mentioned premises inspected in September, included operating without a valid certificate of acceptability, poor housekeeping, insufficient vector control, insufficient cleanliness and foodstuffs not labelled, etc.
“...In the case of suspected food poisoning, samples of the left-over food will be taken for analysis. Depending on the results, legal action might be taken against the food handler,” said Mashigo.
Sowetan recently spoke to nine shop owners with seven saying they have never seen an inspector.
Malope Mayile of Diepkloof, Soweto, said he has been in business for 20 years and looks after his own store.
“The last time they came to the store was about three to two weeks ago and they checked the content in my shop, but I mostly do that myself. They don’t come often,” said Mayile.
Hassah Mehedi, a worker at one of the local supermarkets in South Hills, said: “We do the inspections ourselves, almost every month end. If something is expired we throw it out. We’ve been open for more than five years and they never came to the shop,” said Mehedi.
A shop owner in Naledi said he checks his stock all the time.
mashalek@sowetan.co.za
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