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Currently, monitoring of food manufacturers forms part of the City’s environmental health practitioners’ general workload. However, the globalisation of the food trade is changing the patterns of food production and distribution, requiring ever more vigilant oversight.

‘City Health is already doing a sterling job to ensure the safety and integrity of the food supply. We are, however, living in an ever-changing landscape and the countrywide listeria outbreak last year was a devastating reminder of just how important food safety is.

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‘We have more than 800 food manufactures in Cape Town that produce for the local and international markets. The new Food Control Unit will focus on these manufacturers as well as dairy farms. It is also an opportunity to improve monitoring of products coming into Cape Town and ensure that these are legally compliant and safe for consumption,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security; and Social Services, Alderman JP Smith.

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It is envisioned that the Food Control Unit will be able to:

• Provide improved guidance to manufacturers and ensure compliance
• Help solidify the application of labeling regulations
• Ensure uniformity in the implementation and interpretation of new legislation across the City
• Improve surveillance, monitoring and enforcement of legislation

In South Africa, all food-related legislation is consolidated under the National Foodstuffs Act. The surveillance, monitoring and enforcement aspects are areas where a dedicated Food Control Unit can have a major impact on guiding the industry, ensuring improved compliance and more customer-centric service delivery.

‘The consumer will ultimately benefit, as the level of confidence in the City’s ability to deliver on its mandate to ensure safe food will be enhanced. The compliance of labelling requirements will also ensure that the consumer will be able to make more informed choices,’ added Alderman Smith.

In addition to the specialised Food Control Unit, City Health will also reconfigure its Noise Control Unit. This includes the addition of staff members, but two different sections previously dealing with the same issue will also be consolidated into one unit, which will ultimately lead to a much shortened response time.

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