A new report by the Public Protector has found that Gauteng municipalities have failed to enforce food safety regulations at spaza shops and other food-handling businesses.
Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka released the report after investigating whether the Gauteng government is adequately implementing and enforcing food safety laws.
ALSO READ: Public Protector to provide update on spaza shops food safety probe
The probe followed the deaths of several children across the country, who are believed to have been poisoned by products bought from spaza shops.
The report found that municipalities in the province have not prioritised employing environmental health inspectors to ensure compliance with food safety standards.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that there should be one environmental health practitioner (EHP) for every 10,000 people.
However, the Public Protector has found that Johannesburg has just one practitioner for every 20,000 residents.
The picture is far more bleak in Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, where a single environmental health practitioner serves about 43,000 and 47,000 people, respectively.
Gcaleka said the state of food safety oversight in Gauteng is dire.
“The entire province is functioning at less than a third 33.3% of the required EHP staffing capacity as per WHO and NEHNS [National Environmental Health Norms and Standards] recommendations.
“To ensure equity of environmental health in the country, and to achieve effective enforcement of the prescripts regulating food safety, the government must conform to the WHO guidelines for operational EHP.”
The Gauteng government and its municipalities will now be given an opportunity to respond to the Public Protector’s scathing findings.
Never miss a major story. Get breaking news and the latest developments from South Africa and beyond as they happen.
Alpha Ramushwana
www.ewn.co.za
