South Africa

South Africa, Maverick Citizen, Maverick News

Food poisoning incidents — unpacking food safety and pesticide use

The newly appointed mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Babalwa Lobishe, started her term of office by targeting immigrant-owned spaza shops and closing some of them. (Photo: Thamsanqa Mbovane)

By Lillian Roberts

22 Nov 2024

More than 22 children have died of suspected food poisoning in late 2024 alone. In a Daily Maverick webinar unpacking regulations and the enforcement of food safety and accessibility of pesticides, Food Justice reporter Naledi Sikhakhane, Maverick Citizen reporter Lerato Mutsila, and University of Cape Town professor of public health medicine Leslie London explored outdated laws, why children are more affected, and food poisoning incidences that were declared a national disaster.

“Food safety is really important, and I think it’s a terrible tragedy. What has happened in Soweto has really focused our attention on one aspect of food safety and that is the toxic chemicals that can sometimes get into food,” said London.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McSBrPWZSqg

Highlighting the listeriosis outbreak, where 200 people died and more stringent regulations came about to regulate food safety preparation, London said this requires a “certificate of acceptability” issued by local authority, part of Regulation 638, covering the full gamut of food preparation.

R638 and government capacity

“We know in practice it’s quite difficult to reach the informal sector, and the problem of chemical toxicity has really arisen because of the failure of removal of municipal waste in our townships… So people resort to toxic measures to control pests, and however it happens, those toxins get into food products or children consume them by accident. That’s really the cause of the current terrible problem that we face.”

Sikhakhane pointed out that the government is attempting to get Spaza and Tuckshops registered within 21 days, and asked London to explain if the registration would help shops meet safety standards. She highlights that we may have the rules, but questions if there is a capacity issue with SAPS or health inspectors to regularly check food safety.

R638, London said, sets out regulations for food hygiene; from equipment, water supply and washing of hands, to maintaining food in a good state, managing food waste and training. Once registered, shops would have to be compliant and get inspected. While London says there’s nothing wrong with that system, he questioned how practical it would be to apply it to all Spaza shops, given the current resource constraints of local government.

“I think an estimate suggested that we were about four times short of the amount of environmental health practitioners that we need, and at the same time we know that many local governments are not functioning very well. There is the CoGTA indicator, which they used to look at local government, and about a quarter of local governments are not functional.”

“We’re asking quite a lot of a system which is taking quite a lot of strain. It’s not to say we shouldn’t ask it, but we should be realistic about what can be achieved — by trying to solve the problem at the end of the problem,” said London.

He said the problem upstream for microbial contamination is the conditions under which people live and work, and the toxin getting into food (whether accidental or fumigation of properties) is a regulation problem upstream with the registrar of pesticides in the Department of Agriculture.

London said many people, including experts, have called for banning currently legal but highly toxic chemicals like terbufos, an organophosphate.

Operation Dudula President Zandile Dabula at a media briefing on defending the township economy in Naledi, Soweto on 31 October 2024. The briefing addressed protecting the township economy, improving public health standards and empowering community-led initiatives. (Photo: Gallo Images / Fani Mahuntsi)

Unregulated and underserviced

Mutsila told the webinar that she had accompanied government officials on health inspections while reporting on the issue, since the death of six children in Naledi, Soweto.

“One thing that was really clear through the health inspections was that this is an industry that has gone largely unregulated for a very long time, due to capacity constraints and ill-functioning municipalities. And regarding the pesticides, what struck us is how easily available pesticides are — that are restricted and not necessarily for domestic use.”

Read more: Ramaphosa orders immediate closure of all spaza shops linked to child deaths as food poisoning cases grow

During one of the inspections, Mutsila said they found a woman with an insecticide packet showing Chinese writing, who would not say where the packet was obtained. As amaBhungane reported, the largest supplier to South Africa is China, but Belgium, Germany and the US all feature in the top 10.

“There’s readily available access but there’s no understanding of where people are getting these pesticides, the pipeline from the manufacturer to the townships, and informal settlements for domestic use. Government is also still investigating how the pesticides (that are meant to have certificates and training in order to use them) are ending up in people’s households.”

Of the 10 spaza shops they visited, a glaring issue in terms of health and safety was lack of proper storage facilities, proper cooling facilities and basins for washing.

“UN global standards say that for every ten thousand people, we need one health inspector. I think we have over 1,000 health inspectors nationally, and we need over 6,000.”

How can SA achieve better health standards?

A webinar attendee asked whether we are seeing more poisoning cases, or if it was just the media reporting on it more?

“It’s not entirely clear,” said London. “It might be both. It might be that because of the attention to the problem and the very high profile deaths that more cases are being reported, and we’re simply identifying more than we would’ve otherwise. It might be that there is an uptick. As I understand, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases is the hub which is gathering information. All cases of foodborne illnesses are notifiable.”

He said that foodborne illnesses are chronically underreported.

Asked by another webinar attendee “who is responsible for policing the safety of shops?” London answered that depending on which piece of legislation is applied, different authorities will have jurisdiction. Environmental health practitioners through the Department of Health would be the main actors.

“I’m sure the South African police are being galvanised currently because there’s a criminal matter and there’s a lot of public attention,” London explained.

If someone uses the pesticide incorrectly, the entity that enforces prosecution is SAPS, and he says he doesn’t know if we’ve ever had a prosecution by SAPS for using a pesticide contrary to instructions on the label. He says it’s outdated and unfit for purpose because it should be a different kind of enforcement system.

“The question about Spaza shops being able to comply is really important. The ministry for small business development put aside some funding, hopefully that funding will be used to bolster Spaza shop capacity. But I think it needs to be something built into the system,” London added.

He said unless we build it into the system, food poisoning issues will reoccur. He suggests earmarked grants for local municipalities to ensure small businesses are able to comply with the law, so that the poorest among us can still access food at Spaza shops, safely.

When engaging with the Gauteng Department of Health as well as Provincial Government, Mutsila said that they have been forthcoming with new information and willing to answer questions. While acknowledged as an issue, Mutsila said there hasn’t been answers about the plan to address the shortfall of health inspectors.

Children affected, easy access and outdated laws

“Children are particularly sensitive because their bodies are still developing. The amount of chemical per kilogram of body weight is higher quite often. So it’s picked up more obviously. There might be adults who are poisoned who survive, and think they have some kind of illness, but it’s not reported,” explained London.

He says children dying are “a canary in a coal mine”.

“While it’s important to focus on the Spaza shop owners to improve what happens there, it’s all occurring in a system. The pesticide that was responsible for the Soweto poisoning was a pesticide that was not banned in South Africa, it was available, and there’s no real restriction on going into an agricultural co-op and buying such a pesticide.”

London used the example brought to the attention of his team a few years ago, of a five-litre Class 1A pesticide known as a “red label” pesticide, the most hazardous. He explained that an untrained KwaZulu-Natal woman had walked into an agricultural co-op and bought this pesticide, without any training or indication from the co-op that it was dangerous. If she had a lot of work, she would sleep over at the farm, and was then using the top of the pesticide container to burn candles for light.

“To me, this is the problem, because you can’t expect the system to work if someone who has no training, is not in the capacity to manage it safely, can get a pesticide like this. The accountability of industry is really important and they have succeeded in this case in blaming everyone but themselves.”

London highlighted that terbufos is one of the chemical pesticides legally produced at the UPL factory in Durban, which was set alight during the 2021 riots. He mentioned that factories like this sell to agricultural co-ops, which then sell to customers.

“That whole product stewardship system is meant to protect us. Our National Environmental Management Act (Nema) talks about cradle-to-grave responsibility, but what’s happening in South Africa at the moment is the companies can bring it in, sell it, and say ‘no, somebody else’s problem because they didn’t follow the label’. And that to me is the biggest problem.”

He added that we have an Act that governs pesticides from 1947. London says the Act isn’t fit for purpose, something acknowledged when in 2006 there was a discussion paper by the government about the Act, and in 2010 a policy paper produced.

“It’s 14 years since then, and we still have the same Act. We get regulations under the same Act. That’s why we have situations where Spaza shop owners can get hold of these chemicals through a chain of distribution. There’s no accountability.”

London says the legislation is outdated, it’s not consistent with the Constitution or Nema, and it should be changed.

spaza shop crisis A policeman arrests a spaza shop owner for allegedly violating municipal regulations in Kwazakhele, Gqeberha on 11 November 2024. This after reported food poisoning incidents cost the lives of young people, allegedly from snacks bought from unregulated spaza shops. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Lulama Zenzile)

What should be done?

London advocates for restricting, if not banning, the worst actors such as “red label” pesticides. He says it should be impossible to get a hold of red label pesticides unless you are a registered pest control company, with training and understanding of the risks.

“There’s also a commitment from government to ban highly hazardous pesticides. This is an international agreement, South Africa has indicated it was going to ban highly hazardous pesticides, but it’s not moving on that.”

He said regulations have been brought out now where industry can apply for exemptions from the Rotterdam Convention, so they can get pesticides to market.

According to London, people should be advocating for a new law, not a reform of the old law.

“I think the public should put pressure on government to look at non-chemical pest control. There’s a lot of ways you can reduce pesticide usage. There are countries around the world that have adopted pesticide reduction policies, where their agricultural sector has not declined.”

London said states such as Sri Lanka have banned the worst pesticides, and as a result reduced the very high suicide death rate from pesticides. Government listened to evidence from assembled scientists, while industry said banning pesticides wouldn’t work — but it did reduce the suicide rate substantially.

“The problem in our situation is [that the] government listens to industry, it doesn’t listen to science, and it doesn’t listen to people.”

Spaza shops closed in Nelson Mandela Bay, GroundUp Newly appointed mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay, Babalwa Lobishe, started her term of office by targeting immigrant-owned spaza shops and closing some of them. (Photo: Thamsanqa Mbovane)

Long-term impacts of childhood poisoning

London hopes that this set of tragedies will move government to provide an upstream solution to the problem, instead of investing in the downstream solution of policing the Spaza — as it’s very difficult and costly.

“We must find a way to make sure the tap is turned off at the top.”

At Red Cross Hospital there was a study on the long-term effects of organophosphate poisoning, which found that when compared to other children, it had adverse impacts of neuro-development, such as dexterity and motor function, as well as social and behavioural effects.

“Which means you’ve got kids that survived something bad, but some of them are going to need support, and the cost of that is borne by the family. In our current system you’ll wait six months to a year to get an appointment at a developmental clinic, because there are no staff or resources.”

He said that civil society groups such as UnPoison can help people with resources to learn more, and become more active in lobbying their local and national government.

London concluded by saying he thinks the spate of poisonings are an example of environmental injustice, that the poor suffer the consequences of environmental degradation, dealing with it in whatever way they can, which then compounds the problem and is a double whammy. DM

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