Food items expired over four years ago, others with no expiry dates were some of the discoveries made by Bitou Public Safety Officials as they pounced on shops in the CBD on Tuesday.

This blitz follows similar operations on Friday and at the weekend in Witterdrift, Kranshoek and Crags. These operations saw an illegal tavern owner arrested and alcohol worth thousands of rands confiscated as they were trading without a legal permit. 

In Witterdrift, expired food items including baby food, cool drink, chips and spices were confiscated and sent to the Bitou transfer site. Today, the officials visited shops in New Horizons and the CBD.

At both shops, they found expired food items which were subsequently removed from the shelves. Senior Inspector from Bitou Law Enforcement, Mr. Xolani Bangela, said all shop owners around Bitou should be warned.

“We are not toying with the health of our residents,” he said. “We are planning on going to more areas as this is a widespread problem.” 

“Our next operation will be in Kwanokuthula where we will visit all the phases one-by-one as there are over 50 businesses operating in the area,” he added. 

Bitou Council Speaker, Cllr. Claude Terblanche, who joined the operations has lauded the team saying that they officials were putting residents first.

“Im proud of the Law Enforcement for their work but these shops having expired food remains a matter of concern.”

“With load-shedding now this will be very dangerous.”

Cllr. Terblanche said regular checks of this kind are essential and will happen again.