Durban — Food items such as canned fish, fizzy drinks, soya beans, baby food, and spices mostly used on chips and similar snacks, were found stored with hazardous chemicals such as pesticides, at a warehouse on the Bluff in Durban, on Wednesday.
This potentially hazardous mix of goods and poisonous chemicals has been linked to a string of deaths of children around the country who fell ill after consuming food stuff bought from spaza shops.
Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said investigations were under way to find the people responsible for the import of expired and counterfeit food similar to the type mostly sold at township and village spaza shops.
“Counterfeit prescription medication, body lotion and expired alcoholic beverages were also found in the two warehouses.
“Police have also intensified operations to detect vessels that come into the country carrying prohibited items and products that have not been authorised to be in the country,” said Netshiunda.
He said that during the operation police also discovered other two warehouses that were storing counterfeit big-brand clothing items worth millions of rand.
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi commended the various units involved in the operation and vowed not to leave any stone unturned in search of the people who put the lives of South Africans at risk, especially children who buy suspect food from spaza shops.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli who accompanied Mkhwanazi to the warehouses, said: “Unfortunately, most of the products are counterfeit and products that are expired. Others have expiry dates with questionable lifespans. For example, antibiotics that have a lifespan of more than five years, and products that we have never seen in our country.”
He commended the work of the police under the leadership of Mkhwanazi, for the work that they are doing.
“If it wasn’t for them, we were not going to have such important discoveries.”
It is alleged that the food is imported from foreign countries already expired, ultimately ending up being sold to unsuspecting South African consumers.
Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa urged spaza shop owners to register their businesses within 21 days, with the registration process currently under way across the country. This was part of a string of measures to deal with the toxic food scourge plaguing spaza shops around the country.
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