Health inspectors will be launching a probe after a little boy fell ill after allegedly eating a mouldy pie from a spaza shop.
City officials will be looking into the supply of the frozen pies to the winkel in Kensington after the five year old boy was treated for suspected food poisoning.
The incident was reported to ward councillor Cheslyn Steenberg who visited the spaza last week.
The owner was issued with a notice from health inspectors after they found several nare muf pies in the fridges.
The boy’s ouma revealed he has been suffering from diarrhoea for over a week.
The 54-year-old woman, who asked not to be named, explains: “It started last Saturday when his mother bought him a pie at the shop.
“He ate it and within hours he had loose stools and was vomiting.
“He is autistic and suffers from epilepsy, but doesn't get sick very often so we were very worried. We took him to Red Cross [Hospital] and waited but they said he must come back the next day.
“At that point we never suspected it was perhaps the pie he ate, only a few days later when we bought another one and heated it up for him.
“I checked it and that is when I found the mould. I was so angry. To think we support these shops.
“My grandson has stopped vomiting but still has loose stools so we are going back to the hospital to ask them to test him for food poisoning.”
Steenberg, meanwhlile, contacted City Health Inspectors and accompanied them to the shop on Thursday.
The councillor adds: “Upon inspecting, it was found that the same branded pies were indeed full of mould whilst in cold storage. City Health officials removed the pies and will dispose of such.
“It is understood that the pies were purchased from a supplier in Cape Town. Further inspections are underway to check for compliance.”
Last week, Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi called for all spaza shops to be registered.
This comes amid an investigation by the national health department into the deaths of several children who have died after allegedly eating snacks from a spaza shop in Gauteng.
Motsoaledi said: “Every spaza shop must be registered and when you register you must produce documents that you are legally in the country or even if you are South African, show your ID, and then from there the Department of Health can show them what are the do’s and don’ts in terms of health.
“We need a bylaw that will be used by all municipalities.”
The Department of Health said seven children had been confirmed dead and post-mortems confirmed that six of those deaths were as a result of consuming food contaminated with Terbufos, an organophosphate.
monique.duval@inl.co.za