By Staff Writer
Kitwe City Council (KCC) has intensified inspections on foodstuff and public sanitary facilities in restaurants, markets, and other establishments involved in the sale of food to maintain hygiene.
KCC Public Relations Manager Mwaka Nakweti said the action is aimed at improving food hygiene and prevent waterborne diseases such as cholera and Typhoid.
Ms Nakweti said the Local Authority has noted with concern a growing trend of people selling food on the street which contravenes the Public Health and a violation of the Food Safety Act of the Laws of Zambia.
She said KCC would not support the sale of food on the street whose sources of food is not certified and do not meet the minimum standards of food hygiene.
“We have intensified sensitization to people engaged in this kind of activity and in view of the ministerial directive to enforce all the necessary laws and by-laws to ban the sale of ready-to-eat food on the streets, all traders who will defy the directive to desist from selling ready to eat food on the streets will be prosecuted in accordance with the law,” she said.
Ms Nakweti said the Council has enough space in the markets at Kwacha East, Buyantanshi, and Mulenga which are empty.
She said the enforcement of food hygiene guidelines will be extended to other areas of the city where illegal catering services are being offered.
“In view of the cholera outbreak in some parts of the country members of the public are warned against buying food from unlicensed outlets,” she said.
