When walking into a business that handles food, consumers in Durban should look out for the certificate of acceptability, an indicator that the business complies with food safety standards.
Head of health in the eThekwini Municipality, Rose van Heerden, said consumers should be vigilant when walking into a business that handles food.
She was speaking on the city’s communication platform eThekwini Matters recently.
Food safety has been topical recently following the death of children in Gauteng. It is suspected they had eaten contaminated food.
Van Heerden said: “We depend on consumers to be vigilant. When you walk into an establishment that handles food or sells food, the first thing you need to check for is the certificate of acceptability.
“That is the certificate that is issued by a health practitioner after they have done the assessment of the store to find that the (business) is compliant. The certificate must be displayed, where the public can see it.
“Look around, look at the staff in that establishment, are they clean? Look at the aprons that the people are wearing. Look around for pests. If you see cockroaches running all over the place, you should be aware. And if you have had an incident where you buy food and you fall ill, let us know. We depend on the public to let us know what is going on,” she said.
She said some concerns identified through inspection were of people sleeping in the shops which was not allowed because a business was not a residence; the selling of expired food; and no effective ways of pest control measures in place.
“Some people are opening shops in places that were not designed for shops. They are not putting in grease traps which means fat is going down into the wastewater systems which attracts rats as they live off the fat,” Van Heerden said.
The Mercury