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The police arrested Pieter Johannes Grobler (30) on Thursday in Secunda following a tip-off about a farmer who allegedly repacked expired and rotten food for delivery to different retailers destined for sale for human consumption.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The Hawks could have averted another outbreak of food-borne illnesses after pouncing on a Mpumalanga farmer who was found with stocks of expired and rotten foods.

This happens just over two months after President Cyril Ramaphosa gave directives to various departments, especially health inspectors in local municipalities, to take strict measures to ensure that safe food was sold to the public.

Ramaphosa’s intervention was prompted by the spread of 890 food-borne illnesses across provinces and the death of 22 children in September last year. The National Institute of Communicable Diseases found that six children in Naledi, Soweto, were killed by a hazardous pesticide known as Terbufos.

WATCH: Our children are dying of eating poisoned snacks - World-renowned human rights lawyer Richard Spoor

The police arrested Pieter Johannes Grobler (30) on Thursday in Secunda following a tip-off about a farmer who allegedly repacked expired and rotten food for delivery to different retailers destined for sale for human consumption.

Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson, Lt Colonel Magonseni Nkosi, said that collected expired food from chain stores and other distributors under the the pretext that he was going  of feed his domestic animals. 

“When the team comprising of the Hawks, and Govern Mbeki Local Municipality Health Inspectors visited the farm, they were shocked when two warehouses were found packed with food not fit for human consumption,” Nkosi said.

He said that four cold rooms filled with expired canned products, rotten red meat, and chicken meat were found. 

Moreover, Nkosi said that:

·      About 1000 crates were found fully loaded with expired dairy products, including cheese products;

·      A truck, fitted with a cold room, two light delivery vehicles, one loaded with meat, and an empty LDV were also found.

·      A total of seven freezers were found in the warehouses with repackaged wheat, flower, and maize meal.

·      Equipment used for vacuuming, scales, and plastic sealers was found on the scene. 

The police also recovered items that include stickers and pricing machines, which he allegedly used during repackaging, to be prepare the items for the market.

Grobler appeared in the Secunda Magistrate’s Court on February 6, and was released on R8000 bail.

Nkosi said that some of the food had already been distributed, but police were not aware for how long Grobler had been allegedly distributing the food. “We acted immediately as we got informed. It was crucial before more damage was done,” he said.

Speaking to The People’s Eye podcast three months ago, human rights lawyer Richard Spoor said that there were syndicates producing poisonous foods and selling them.

Spoor called for harsher sentences against offenders in the South African law, not the slap on the wrist fines of about R400 to R2000. Comparatively, fines in the US amount to millions of rands for food poisoning offences, he said.

Spoor has been representing victims of listeriosis in the on-going class action against food and beverage company, Tiger Brands, following the deaths of about 200 people and women miscarrying or giving birth to stillborn babies since 2017.

This is the biggest listeriosis case in the world where more than 1 500 people were infected by eating cold meat from the Tiger Brands factory in Polokwane.