CoCT Environmental Health Service receives at least 1,000 COA applications after Ramaphosa's spaza shop registration announcement
A certificate of acceptability (COA) is a legal document indicating that a food-handling establishment complies with the hygiene and food safety standards.
FILE: A spaza shop. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/Eyewitness News
CAPE TOWN - The City of Cape Town's Environmental Health Service has received at least 1,000 applications for certificates of acceptability (COA) this week.
A certificate of acceptability is a legal document indicating that a food-handling establishment complies with the hygiene and food safety standards.
This follows President Cyril Ramaphosa's recent announcement that spaza shops need to be registered, amid scores of food safety incidents across the country in recent months.
He said that over the last few weeks alone, foodborne illnesses had claimed the lives of at least 22 children.
That number has now risen to 23 following the latest incident in Soweto this week, in which a five-year-old boy died after allegedly eating snacks bought from a spaza shop.
Environmental health practitioners facilitate applications for certificates of acceptability and there is no cost associated with these applications.
City Mayco Member for Community Services and Health, Patricia van der Ross: "City Health piloted its online COA application process in July. Our staff will continue assisting with paper-based applciations but we encourage applicants to go to the city's website and make use of the tool. Certificates of acceptance are only awarded after all relevant documents have been submitted and verified and a physical inspection of the premises has taken place."