Farmer in court for selling expired food

A 30-year-old farmer is expected to appear in Secunda magistrate's court this morning for allegedly collecting expired and rotten food from retailers under the pretence of feeding it to his animals, only to sell it for human consumption.

This comes after the Hawks and the Govan Mbeki municipality health inspectors raided the Mpumalanga man's farm last night after a tip-off that he was selling expired food to residents.

Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson Lt-Col Magonseni Nkosi said as they were inspecting the farm they were shocked to discover two warehouses filled with food not fit for human consumption. 

“Four cold rooms filled with expired canned products, rotten red meat and chicken meat were found. About 1,000 crates were found fully loaded with expired dairy products, including cheese products.”

Nkosi also said  seven freezers were found in the warehouses with repackaged wheat, flour and maize meal. A truck, fitted with a cold room, two light delivery vehicles, one loaded with meat, and an empty LDV were also found. 

“An intense investigation will be conducted on the vehicles. Equipment used for vacuuming, scales and plastic sealers was found on the scene. The recovered items include stickers and pricing machines, which are believed to be used during repackaging,” said Nkosi.

Mpumalanga Hawks head Maj-Gen Nico Gerber said: “It is a massive blow to the packager as these products were destined for unsuspecting end users.”

He also said the food poses a risk to communities.

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