The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) has warned the public to be cautious of possible health dangers of buying counterfeit and expired food products.
This is amidst the circulating videos on social media of some shops, mainly informal traders, selling these products.
The city’s environmental health practitioners (EHPs) have intensified food hygiene and safety inspections at food handling premises to stop this practice.
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The CoE spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, said to Kempton Express, “The city encourages the public to buy food only sold from premises that have a Certificate of Acceptability.
“This certificate is only issued after the health inspectors conducted inspections and the premises meet all food safety requirements.
“They display it in the shop for all to see or produced on demand if not displayed,” he said.
Dlamini encouraged the public to report the selling of counterfeit or expired food products, including selling of food items that have their packages removed or altered to environmental health practitioners at the city’s customer care centres.
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“The public is also discouraged from playing the role of an EHP by inspecting and seizing food items from the shops, as this is regarded as an impersonation of an EHP.
“In terms of the Health Professions Act, 56 of 1974, no person shall perform any act deemed to be an act pertaining to any registerable health profession, such as environmental health profession,” he said.
The consumers must note the date markings on the products and what they mean.
Date of minimum durability (‘best before’ or ‘best before end’) means the date which signifies the end of the period under any stated storage condition during which the product will remain fully marketable and will retain any specific qualities for which claims have been made.
Beyond the date, the food may still be perfectly satisfactory. It further serves the purpose of assisting shop owners regarding stock rotation of products on the shelf. In other words, they apply the FIFO (first-in-first-out) principle.
These food items do not require to be removed from the shelves and can be sold for human consumption.
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Sell by or display until means the last day of an offer for sale to the consumer after which there remains a reasonable storage period at home.
The food that has passed the sell-by or display until date must be removed from the shelves and not be sold for human consumption.
‘Use by’ (best consumed before, recommended last consumption date, expiry date) means the date which signifies the end of the estimated period under the stated storage conditions, after which the product probably will not have the quality attributes normally expected by the consumers and after which date the food should not be marketable.
These food items must be removed from the shelves and not be sold for human consumption to the public.
He explained there are food items exempted from date markings. These include alcoholic beverages, chewing gum, confectionary products consisting of flavoured and/or coloured sugars, fresh fruit and vegetables which have not been peeled or treated, and processed meat products such as biltong and dried sausages which have not been prepacked.
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Other food items include ready-to-eat flour confectionery, provided that the date of manufacture is on the label or in the direct vicinity where the product is displayed, sugars, unprocessed, unpacked fish, unprocessed, unpacked meat, and poultry which have not been pre-packed and vinegar.
Residents may lodge their complaints regarding the selling of unsound and unsatisfactory food products at the environmental health offices by contacting 011 999 6461 in Kempton Park.
