Expired foodstuffs seized in supermarket inspection

Trolley loads of expired foodstuffs were removed from the shelves and eight shop owners were arrested for contravention of Immigration Act during a surprise compliance inspection in Pongola on Thursday.

The joint business compliance inspection was led by Pongola Municipality and involved home affairs, SAPS, traffic officers, the Department of Economic Development, the fire department, and Zululand District municipal officials. Speaking to the ZO, Pongola municipal manager Mtonjani Khali explained that they raided eight shops.

“They were selling outdated food and they had no proper documentation.

“They were taken by home affairs officials to conduct further investigations.

“I strongly believe their investigation will tell them what to do, whether to bus them back to their country or arrest them if they have been involved in any corrupt or illegal activities,” said Khali.

According to Khali, this was the municipality’s first such operation, but the law requires them to conduct these inspections twice a year.

He further urged consumers to be more vigilant and check the expiry date before taking foodstuffs off the shelves.

“We asked some supermarkets to remove some tinned food that was about to expire.

We encourage members of the community to report shops that are selling expired food. “We will then do our work and clamp down on those shops.

Members of the community must also avoid throwing away their receipts so they will be able to return those consumable goods if they later discovered it has expired.

“If the supermarket refused to do the exchange or refund, they can report that to us,” he said.

Khali explained that they were not targeting shops owned by foreign nationals; even the big chain supermarkets were subjected to the inspection.

“Our inspection was not based on the nationality of the business owners; we were checking for cleanliness and compliance.

“Business owners must have all required documents and sell proper goods to our communities,” he said.

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