Police Minister warns businesses against selling expired food

Police Minister Bheki Cele has issued a stark warning to store owners over the sale of expired food. He’s warned that their stores will be closed should they sell expired food to the public during the national lockdown.

Cele was speaking during a joint law enforcement roadblock and monitoring operation in Gauteng on Friday as the country entered Level 4 of the COVID-19 stay-at-home order.

In the video below, Cele engages with motorists:

The country has now confirmed nearly 5 951 cases of coronavirus with 116 deaths.

During a routine check of stock at a store in Gauteng, Cele ordered that the manager of the store be arrested after it was discovered that expired meat and baby food products were being sold.

“You use our people as guinea pigs? You want money out of them. You don’t care about their lives? You are not supposed to be operating. I’ve never seen a packet of chicken that expires May 2021. You can see that somebody is fraudulent on the matter, but also the baby food purity is expired. Things that they are selling that are not supposed to be here (and are) supposed to be in pharmacy and all that. We must protect our people of food poisoning deliberately, by the people that want to make money.”