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Competition for healthiest kota to be launched

The City of Joburg has launched a new initiative aimed at improving the nutritional value of the city’s favourite food stuff, a kota.

On Thursday March 5 scores of informal traders – who sell kotas (bunny chows) at schools, spaza shops and on the streets – will gather at Metro Centre A-level lecture theatre at 10:00 to be briefed about the Kota Fortification Competition.

The initiative is aimed at keeping lifestyle diseases and conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and cancer at bay while promoting a healthy diet.

“We are looking at how we can have, say, healthy and fortified kotas because that is what people eat. This competition will help us come up with the healthiest kotas,” says Nomsa Nkosi, one of the supervisors of the Healthy Lifestyle Programme run by the City's Health and Social Development Department.

The Kota Fortification Competition will culminate in the winner being named on June 11.

To enter the competition, traders need to design, plan and prepare a healthy, fortified kota.

“Traders should think about the specific requirements of preparing a kota and show explicitly in the kota design how they catered for these requirements,” says Nkosi.

“We believe that it all starts with getting children to be food-smart at a young age,” she adds.

The competition is open to all kota sellers operating in Johannesburg, especially those who sell at schools, street corners, spaza shops and homes.

Entries will be judged – along the lines of the Masterchef – on creativity, presentation, nutritional balance and taste of the kota.

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