PREVIEW: Vryheid shop brought to shame for selling expired food
"Almost everything they were selling was way beyond its expiry date."
Many of Vryheid’s shoppers will certainly be checking expiry dates on the products they purchase more frequently after a local shop was found to have had items dating as far back as 2015 still on display waiting to be purchased on their shelves.
Environmental Health practitioners from Zululand’s Health Services, together with AbaQulusi Municipality’s Lindiwe Ntshangase, visited this store on Thursday last week and were shocked at the discovery they made.
“We emptied nearly the entire shop. Almost everything they were selling was way beyond its expiry date,” said Mrs Ntshangase.
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“When a business does not have a business license, it is easy for them to slip through the cracks of the regular check-ups that are done at other businesses that are registered and have licenses. Licensed businesses cannot get away with this as they have to adhere to the health rules or face legal action,” Mrs Ntshangase explained.
Sauces, spreads, instant porridge as well as various seasoning items were hauled out of the shop and on to a ZDM bakkie in order to be transported to the dumpsite and disposed of safely.
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ZDM health practitioner, Sithe Madlala, warned consumers to always check the expiry dates on food items before paying for them. “Look at the packaging carefully. Some of the dates have been tampered with, 7’s have been turned to 8’s in order for the retailer to continue selling items that expired in 2017 in 2018,” Ms Madlala pointed out.
Check out the front page of this week’s print edition of the Vryheid Herald newspaper for the full story.
