NCC investigating sale of expired goods at spaza shops
The commission is part of government's national operational and intelligence structure dealing with the recent deaths and illnesses reported after the eating of foods from local spaza shops.
Image of a spaza shop in Naledi, where five children died within minutes of each other after allegedly consuming goods from one of the shops. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The National Consumer Commission (NCC) said it was investigating the sale of expired goods which are not properly labeled at spaza shops in the country.
The commission is part of government's national operational and intelligence structure dealing with the recent deaths and illnesses reported after the eating of foods from local spaza shops.
On Monday, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced that deadly organophosphates known as terbufos caused the deaths of six children in Naledi in October.
The commission said that they too had noticed trends in spaza shops.
Acting Commissioner Hardin Ratshisusu: "In some cases where products have not expired, they look really off, so it's either the conditions that they are being kept are not the appropriate conditions, either the temperature control is not there, which then affects the quality of that particular product."
Meanwhile, a direct link is yet to be drawn between the pesticide found in the bodies of the deceased children and the spaza shop where they bought snacks.