BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) has raided 618 business premises in the city and confiscated 724,57kg of meat deemed unfit for human consumption, latest council minutes reveal.
“Less premises (618) had been inspected during the month of March 2023 compared to the previous month (682), with the highest (57%) being domiciliary visits,” the minutes read.
“During the inspections, unsatisfactory conditions had been identified and contained. Some of these included the sale of 724,57kg of meat deemed to be unfit for human consumption pursuant to the Food Standards Control Act and SI [Statutory Instrument] 50 of 1995.”
The minutes said the condemned meat was disposed of in accordance with the Public Health Act and Bulawayo (Public Health) by-laws.
“Thirty-eight offenders were issued with intimations and 13 with deposit fines notices for failing to comply with public health legislation. 23 public health complaints were raised and followed up during the month. Efforts to rectify all the public health complaints raised continued. Three health reports were issued, seven new shops were recommended for licensing,” the minutes read.
Indications were that enforcements were done jointly with other departments and government law enforcement agencies.
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“The chamber secretary Sikhangele Zhou also explained that enforcement was a shared responsibility with other security agencies. A fine was charged where licences had not been renewed. Condemned bad food was confiscated. Most licences are renewed every year as well as medical certificates for food handlers,” the minutes read.
According to the minutes, the city has also recorded a decline in suspected diarrhoea cases.
“There was a decrease in diarrhoea cases, with 267 reported in March 2023 compared to the previous month’s 306,” the minutes read.
However, there was an increase in malaria cases.
“All 100% malaria cases were imported. The increase in the number of adverse events reported during the month is a serious public health concern, that calls for the scaling up of emergency response mechanisms by all pillars of the epidemic preparedness and response team to detect, contain, monitor, predict and manage the outbreaks.”