Government has urged consumers to be more vigilant when making food purchases after the deaths of at least seven children allegedly after eating goods consumed from street vendors or the spaza shops.
It stressed the importance of checking packaging for expiry dates and damages and to ensure they buy products from “reputable retailers”.
Consumers were also warned to not purchase products that do not “contain information about ingredients, nutritional information, storage advice, expiry dates, production dates or manufacturing information”.
“The law requires that all handlers and transporters of food maintain the highest levels of safety and hygiene and that they must be in possession of a certificate,” the advisory said.
Wits senior lecturer in community paediatrics and registered dietitian, Dr Chantell Witten, stressed the importance of having “proper, legible and clear labelling so that consumers can make informed choices”.
“When food is expired or past its best-by date, then the manufacturer cannot be held responsible for the quality and the consequences of eating expired food. After the expiry date or sell-by date there is no guarantee that the food is safe to eat or that the properties that the food should contain is assured.
“Food that is expired can cause harm, can be not fit for consumption and can cause sickness or death,” she said.
Young children are naturally curious and may be more likely to explore their environment, including picking up and tasting items they find. This can lead to accidental ingestion of harmful substances or spoiled food.
— Nicola Eley, deputy executive director at Grow Great
She also explained why children are more vulnerable when it comes to unregulated products, saying that it was because they carry “a lower tolerance for poisons and toxins that result from contaminated food”.
The smaller size of their bodies meant “higher levels or ratio to body size for toxins or poisons”.
“Children are also not able to distinguish the severity or critical point of an event or adverse reaction to poisoned or contaminated food. The response time to intervene to prevent severe reaction to food poisoning or an adverse reaction like vomiting, nausea and diarrhoea, is limited,” she explained.
Deputy executive director at Grow Great Nicola Eley echoed this and explained that because young children’s immune systems are still developing, it made them less able to stave off infections and toxins compared to older people.
She highlighted many young children have limited food preferences and “are more likely to consume familiar and easily accessible foods”.
On Friday, a grade 3 pupil from Tshepisong, Roodepoort, died at a local clinic after allegedly consuming biscuits bought from a local spaza shop.
Two days before, two girls, aged three and four, were certified dead at the Mokwallo multipurpose centre in Vredefort after they too apparently ate snacks bought from a spaza shop.
Weeks earlier, Neo Khang and Leon Jele, both aged six, died after eating biscuits bought at a local spaza shop.
Katlego Mbatha and Olwethu Zikhali survived and were taken to hospital for treatment.
Days later, a two-year-old Azingce Mayeye and three-year-old Othalive Nkatshuka died allegedly after eating snacks bought at a minibus taxi rank in the West Rand.
More than 60 other children were either hospitalised or treated at healthcare facilities after they too became ill after apparently eating snacks bought from the same outlets.
Authorities have moved to clamp down on stores selling expired food, with police and municipalities such as Tshwane and Joburg conducting raids, mostly at foreign-owned shops and confiscating and destroying products that fail to meet the required standards.
Tshwane, in a statement released on Tuesday, said that it would continue “conduct rigorous inspections and audits of spaza shops and other food outlets”.
“The inspections will focus on ensuring compliance with food safety regulations, proper storage, handling, and disposal of food products, as well as the regular monitoring of expiration dates.
“Young children are naturally curious and may be more likely to explore their environment, including picking up and tasting items they find. This can lead to accidental ingestion of harmful substances or spoiled food,” added Eley.
Probed on the high number of incidents being reported in just under a month, Witten said that this was because information sharing was wider and faster than ever before.
She, however, expressed concern over the high numbers, saying it spoke “to the severity of the situation and the higher level of poison or contamination exposure, especially with respect to children”.
“We know that there is an interaction between climate change and health. Heat exposure, breaking the cold chain with certain perishable foods, like animal food products, are all dangers were face even at household level with load-shedding and electricity cuts.
“We cannot disregard water safety, hygiene practices and sanitation. When these are at low grade or not practised, the risk of infection increases. Again this is most dangerous for children. Diarrhoea remains a major cause of child deaths in South Africa,” she explained.
Both Witten and Eley agreed that one of the best ways to curb the trend would be to monitor the food children consumed and safeguard their wellbeing as a vulnerable group.
The dilemma is that households are struggling with economic challenges. The rise in the food price puts pressure on households to make ends meet by buying cheaper products, inferior products and dangerous expired or past the best by date to put food on the table.
— Dr Chantell Witten, Wits senior lecturer in community paediatrics and registered dietician
Witten added that while government had a role to play when it came to food safety, it remained important for consumers to practise food safety measures at home.
Eley said: “Monitoring the food young children consume, especially when it comes from unregulated sources, is vital for their safety, nutrition and overall wellbeing.
“Caregivers, parents and responsible adults play a crucial role in ensuring that children have access to safe, nutritious and age-appropriate food choices”.
Other strategies, Eley suggested, included comprehensive education, targeted outreach, making information accessible and constant regulation and enforcement.
Witten concluded with a warning on the possible consequences of not implementing effective and strategic interventions.
“The dilemma is that households are struggling with economic challenges. The rise in the food price puts pressure on households to make ends meet by buying cheaper products, inferior products and dangerous expired or past the best-by date to put food on the table.
“Unscrupulous traders are also making money by selling inferior products and the rebranding products or selling ‘fake foods’, expired foods and alternative unknown brands. Without effective and strategic intervention, we can only guess that this will result in more cases of sickness and death.”
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