Poor regulation sees spaza shops selling contaminated food with impunity, says Phaahla

CAPE TOWN - Deputy Health Minister Doctor Joe Phaahla says poor regulation is resulting in people buying contaminated food from Spaza shops.

The minister’s comment comes after five children died in Naledi, Soweto, on Sunday after consuming snacks they bought from a local spaza shop.

He was speaking at the launch of a Nutrition Week event at the University of the Western Cape on Thursday.

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The Deputy Health Minister, Joe Phaahla, said government needs to increase its efforts to ensure that food products that are sold at Spaza shops are safe for human consumption.

He added no parent should lose a child from contaminated food products when there are officials deployed to prevent such.

"Anybody to trade, you need to have a license, you need to have a place allocated which must meet the necessary standards and clearly that is not happening."

Phaahla said those responsible for neglecting the implementation of food trade regulation laws should be prosecuted.

"Basic food safety, what should be in the food you know, the manner in which food should be stored, all these regulations are there, and they are given to provinces and municipalities."

The Deputy Health Minister said teams from various government departments are involved in the investigations into the latest incident.