17 Businesses Breach Food Safety Laws

Seventeen businesses and retail shops in Lautoka breached the Food Safety Act and Regulations and were issued with an infringement notice.

This is after Lautoka City Council in partnership with Consumer Council of Fiji and the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission(FCCC) conducted an inspection last week.

The inspection which involved nine officers included 34 inspections in three groups covering 12 supermarkets, 15 butchers, three eateries, one refreshment bar, three food retails and four retail outlets.

Lautoka City Council (LCC) manager Health Services and acting chief executive officer Rouhit Karan Singh said: “Breaches noted were cockroach infestation in two supermarkets and refreshment bar, 8kg of meat condemned for destruction and disposal from a Butcher, 140kg of frozen food items (condemned) from one supermarket, 10kg of assorted food items were condemned from two food retail shops,” he said.

“Eight food safety abatement notices were issued to food businesses for operating food business under unsanitary and unhygienic conditions condition, one refreshment bar was issued notice for operating food business without valid health license and one supermarket was issued notice for displaying for sale past expiry date.”

He said the council would initiate legal action against food businesses if they fail to comply.

Lautoka Residents and Ratepayers Association representative Narayan Reddy said the FCCC, LCC and the Consumer Council of Fiji need to crackdown on businesses breaching regulations.

“This is nothing new, especially with the meats. We’ve had a lot of problems with supermarkets selling meat with freezer burn, this is because they switch off the freezer at night and then switch it on again in the morning, so this makes the meat a breeding ground for bacteria,” he said.

“The other issue is a lot of supermarkets have cockroaches in their potatoes and bulk area and there’s also rat infestation, so these inspections need to be done fortnightly because they have been too lenient.”

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