[Image: Flickr]
Cape Town officials have seen a sharp rise in food-related complaints, with public concerns jumping 55% from 128 complaints in 2023 to 199 in 2024.
The surge was especially noticeable in November and December when food safety issues sparked nationwide attention.
Most complaints have been about expired food, unhygienic conditions, and poor food quality. According to Patricia van der Ross, the MMC for community services and health, the increase in complaints shows that people are more aware of food safety, but there’s still a lot of work to do to educate both businesses and consumers.
“For example, there is no such thing as expired food in South African law. It is critical that we develop an understanding of the regulations and how food labelling works to reduce the risk of misinformation and ultimately, food waste.”
In response to government instructions, spaza shops were told to register to keep trading. From November 15 to December 31, over 6,500 applications were received for the necessary Certificate of Acceptability (COA) to ensure they comply with national hygiene and food safety standards, with most coming from areas like Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, and Strand.
On top of that, city authorities issued 276 fines between October and December for violations under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act.
Everyone needs to know that there is no provision for expired food in South African labelling regulations. The regulations state food must have a date marking on the label.
Generally, these are:
- “best before”, mostly applying to shelf-stable foods that do not need refrigeration (canned goods, rice, pasta, cereal, biscuits);
- “sell by”, the date by which it should leave the shop; and
- “use by”, the most critical, which generally applies to meat, dairy or perishable goods.
Perishables (/organics) and cold chain goods (/temperature-sensitive products) should not be sold past the use-by dates.
The more you know…
[Source: Sowetan Live]
