Spaza shops: Investigators find expired food, foreign products and even bullfrogs

Investigators from the National Consumer Commission (NCC) found expired food in spaza shops in Naledi, Soweto, after conducting inspections at 16 shops on Monday and Tuesday.

The inspections came after six children died soon after eating chips they bought from a spaza shop in the area.

The NCC conducted inspections in Naledi, Soweto, and the Buffalo City Municipality, in the Eastern Cape, this week to determine if shop owners comply with the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and other applicable laws, regulations and bylaws.

In Soweto, the NCC joined forces with the department of home affairs, health and environmental inspectors from the City of Johannesburg, the South African Police Service and the Gauteng Office of Consumer Affairs.

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Food sold past sell-by date

So far the inspections revealed that some spaza shops do not adhere to date markings and still had food on their shelves past the sell-by or use-by/expiry dates. Some goods were also not labelled and some were labelled in foreign languages, such as Mandarin, with unclear or no information on ingredients.

A spokesperson says these items included baby food, sweets, cool drinks, noodles, snacks, biscuits, juices and other consumables. “Selling these items has the potential to cause harm and compromise the health of consumers.”

The inspectors also found these fridges with unlabelled meat:

The inspectors did not find any spaza shops selling pesticides, such as aldicarb or two-step, although a source said on Monday that this is often the case at spaza shops. The children who died also displayed symptoms that correspond to poisoning from pesticides.

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Spaza shops do not adhere to section 55 of the CPA

Section 55 of the CPA states that every consumer has a right to receive goods that are reasonably suitable for the purposes for which they are generally intended and that are of good quality, in good working order and free of any defects.

Goods must also comply with applicable standards or any other public regulations. The NCC says that where goods are not safe and pose a risk to consumers, it can instruct the supplier to recall the unsafe goods and investigate further.

“If the NCC finds that suppliers are contravening the CPA, the matters can be referred to the National Consumer Tribunal for prosecution and the suppliers can face an administrative penalty of up to R1 million or 10% of their turnover.”

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Inspectors find bullfrogs in Buffalo City spaza shops

The NCC also inspected suppliers in East London, working with the police, environmental health inspectors from the Buffalo City Metro Municipality, the national departments of home affairs, forestry, fisheries and the environment, labour and employment, the provincial department of economic development, environmental affairs and tourism, the Border Management Agency, the South African Revenue Services, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority and advocacy groups.

In the East London inspections, the NCC team discovered instances of non-compliance with the CPA, including the sale or marketing of goods that appear to have passed their sell-by or use-by or expiry date, no trade descriptions or species names on meat and meat products and even unique products such as bullfrogs.

Some of the shops also sold food that only had labels and description in Mandarin only.

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Spaza shops issue non-compliant sales records or none at all

Some shops were also not issuing sales records or invoices and if they did issue a sales record, it did not comply with requirements. The CPA states that suppliers of goods or services must provide a written record of each transaction to customers who buy goods or services.

The sales record must at least include the supplier’s full name, or registered business name, VAT registration if applicable, the address of the premises, the date of the transaction, a name or description of the goods, the unit price, the quantity the customer bought, the total price of the transaction, before VAT, the VAT amount and the total price of the transaction, including VAT.

Some of the shops also did not offer refunds and returns, while others charged as much as a 20% cancellation fee on lay-bys.

The inspections are continuing.