LIMPOPO – Last Monday, the Greater Giyani Municipality (GGM), in collaboration with the police, the Department of Health, and the Department of Home Affairs carried out a major operation targeting large wholesale retailers to combat the sale of expired food in Giyani.

The raid resulted in the closure of three major wholesalers which supply stock to most spaza shops operating in and around Giyani, as well as the arrest of their owners. During the raid, authorities also discovered a substantial quantity of expired food items, which were still being sold to unsuspecting customers.

What was most alarming was the discovery of improper handling of perishable goods and unsafe storage conditions, where food items were stored near toilets and exposed to leaking sewage that appeared to spill onto the goods, which posed a serious health risk to shoppers and the broader community.

Speaking while at the scene, the portfolio head for Health and Social Services in the GGM, Cony Manganyi said the crackdown forms part of GGM’s broader efforts to ensure compliance with health and safety regulations.

“With this development, we aim to protect consumers from harmful products and promote accountability within the local retail supply chain so that we will not have unsafe foodstuff distributed to our communities,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mopani District Municipality’s (MDM) Community Services MMC Basani Shibambu, who was present during the operation, condemned the poor handling of foodstuffs by major suppliers, stating that they should be leading by example.

“It is unacceptable that a shop responsible for supplying goods to spaza shops lacks proper food handling practices,” she said while standing inside one of the storerooms where foodstuffs were found to be improperly stored. As a result, we will confiscate all stock in this section and send it for destruction, as it was not stored correctly. Evidence of bacterial contamination is already visible in the storage area,” she said.

The MMC reiterated the district’s commitment to ongoing inspections and enforcement actions that are being taken to ensure that all businesses within municipalities adhere to the law and prioritise the well-being of their customers.

“Going forward as a district, we will hold a technical meeting with all five municipalities in the district to assess our way forward as we observe the 21-day window provided by the President to businesses and spaza shopkeepers. We need to draft a report outlining our next steps,” she said.