John Steenhuisen on cooked hot food ban: 'Is there a gazetted temperature range that differentiates between cool, warm and hot?'

The government on Monday officially prohibited the sale of cooked hot food by supermarkets.

The government gazette stated that food products and non-alcoholic beverage sales were allowed, excluding cooked hot food.

Speaking on 702, department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs spokesperson Lungi Mtshali said the decision was meant to reduce foot traffic.

“We need to reduce the movement of people. The sale of cooked hot food is not assisting the department at the moment.”

On Twitter, DA leader John Steenhuisen said the updated regulation was “petty”, and "won't end well".

“Now it depends what the definition of 'hot' is? Is there a gazetted temperature range that differentiates between cool, warm and 'hot'? Could it apply to cold 'hot' curries?” Steenhuisen asked.

The DA has threatened to take legal action over trade and industry minister Ebrahim Patel's decision to ban the sale of cooked hot food by supermarkets.

In a statement released on Sunday, the DA's shadow minister of trade and industry, Dean Macpherson, said Patel's decision was “illogical and ill-considered”.

He said it advanced regulations that made no sense and were not founded in law. He said the ruling would be particularly devastating for elderly and infirm people who were unable to cook their own food.

“The latest pronouncement by the government will have detrimental consequences for frontline health-care workers, members of the security services, essential-service workers and transport workers, like truck drivers, who rely on cooked food because of the work they are doing.”