Gwarube dismisses claims school feeding schemes are sources of food-borne illnesses

JOHANNESBURG - The Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, has dismissed allegations that school feeding schemes are also responsible for incidents of food-borne illnesses. 

Gwarube was on Friday speaking during an inter-ministerial briefing on the spate of food-borne illnesses in Pretoria.

Over 22 children have lost their lives in the last two months from eating snacks purchased from spaza shops and street vendors. 

While the government is working to regulate spaza shops and other informal businesses, there are suggestions feeding schemes in schools should also be closely monitored. 

READ: Agri Minister Steenhuisen says lab tests confirmed chemical responsible for child deaths not made locally

But Gwarube said investigations have not linked any food poisoning incidents to school nutrition programmes. 

"We have done a lot of inspection in terms of the school nutrition programme to figure out where it has been compromised. We have found that a lot of the cases where children have died, these cases have not emanated from the school nutrition programme," she said.

Despite this, Gwarube said her department would monitor the situation.

"However, we are also mindful of the fact that children are buying snacks that are taken into schools and these are shared. And so that's why we have to be part of this multidisciplinary effort," she added.

The government has now classified food-borne illnesses as a national disaster.