The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Consumer Commission (NCC), descended on various businesses in Durban for high-impact surprise raids on Tuesday and seized non-compliant ready-to-eat processed meat products.

NRCS Food and Associated Industries Business Unit principal inspector Grant Hingle said they were there to administer regulations regarding ready-to-eat processed meat products.

He explained that following the listeriosis outbreak a few years ago, the Department of Trade and Industry mandated the NRCS to regulate the processed meat industry to eliminate a possible recurrence of the outbreak. 

All ready-to-eat processed meat product manufacturers are required to follow a national standard of compulsory specification and a South African national standard.

“We have a situation where we have sort of retail butcheries manufacturing processed meat products on their premises for sale in their stores,” Hingle said. 

He said their primary focus is to try to get them to comply. 

One of their stops was Point Wholesale Meats on Mahatma Gandhi Road in the Point area, where the team identified and seized several ready-to-eat processed meat products.

“They’re manufacturing on site. They have made some attempt to have process control when they manufacture, but they do need to comply in terms of other sorts of more safety-related requirements,” Hingle said. 

“So we will be in touch with them. I have corresponded with the manager. We’re going to arrange to provide him with the documentation that he needs in order to comply and be registered as a manufacturer.” 

In light of these infractions, Hingle explained that they do not fine, they only remove products from the market. 

“We’ve uplifted all their stock that falls within that regulation. We have the authority to be able to remove the product from the market, but we don’t actually fine them,” Hingle said. 

He clarified that all ready-to-eat processed meat products covered by the compulsory specification are incorrectly labeled.

“They basically haven’t been produced in a controlled approved facility, so that’s the reason why by default the product is considered to be non-compliant,” Hingle said. 

Next, was Chester Butcheries on Umgeni Road where the team seized more products. 

“They’re not manufacturing any product here. We need to locate the source of the product that we’ve just taken now. We sort of know more or less where we need to go,” Hingle explained. 

“There wasn’t a lot of product here. Probably the equivalent of maybe 50 kilograms of product.” 

Hingle said their next mission was finding where the product is manufactured. 

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NRCS Electrotech Business Unit general manager Tintswalo Ntlhane said their mandate is to enforce compliance in the field of electrotech, chemical, mechanical, food and automotive.

She said they planned to go to the street and market to identify non-compliant goods in the market. 

“We will identify electronic equipment or products, we will identify, eradicate those that are non-compliant. Non-compliant, it means they are not compliant to the regulation,” Ntlhane explained. 

“It’s either they don’t have a letter of authority or they are not allowed to be in the market. So we are here to eradicate that. We will take it out from the market so that people can purchase with confidence. Those products are not good for the market. They are not good for the public. And hence, we are here to eradicate this non-compliance.”

Ntlhane said a police presence was necessary for safety because some shop owners retaliate when they see their stock seized. 

“Sometimes they retaliate, so we need support from our sister companies and other entities, law enforcement agencies to support us and to protect us when we do these activities,” Ntlhane said.

She added that major raids help them identify many non-compliance issues. 

thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za

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