CONSUMERS have raised concern over the exposure to a potential health risk, after a storage van was seen unhygienically transporting unpackaged meat to a local supermarket.
Leaving the premises after shopping at a popular Empangeni store, resident Tommy Marx said he was revolted at the sight of a carcass being offloaded directly from the bin of a truck.
‘Usually such goods should be transported in a proper cooler van, not a standard storage truck.
‘Apart from that, the unpackaged meat was strewn across the filthy floor of the truck!’ exclaimed Marx.
‘My son actually pointed it out to me as we were leaving the store. If a child is aware of the health hazard it poses, how much more so management of the companies in question?’ he asked.
In a statement released by the uThungulu District Community Services Department, the incident was affirmed as unacceptable from a health point of view as the meat was subject to contamination.
‘This is contrary to the regulations governing general hygiene requirements for food premises and the transporting of food,’ the statement read.
‘This kind of transportation can result in the meat being condemned as unfit for human consumption and the transporter being liable for prosecution in terms of the aforementioned regulations.’
