KZN police probing origin of Bluff warehouse contents
KZN police are probing the origin of expired and counterfeit goods found in a warehouse in the south of Durban
The discovery was made on Wednesday afternoon during a joint operation in the Mobeni are, led by KZN Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi and Premier Thami Ntuli.
Expired food items and counterfeit goods were found in four warehouses, including in Bluff and South Coast Road.
Food items such as noodles and baby food were found packed tightly - nearly reaching the roof of the dark warehouse.
The items were found near chemicals and alcohol, as well as medicines and spices.
Mkhwanazi said they believe the products had already expired by the time they reached the country’s shores.
"The contamination already starts on the ship coming in. What happens when one of those chemical bottles breaks inside the container, it messes up everything inside there.
“Then these things are moved from here to other warehouses where people that are buying will be distributing from there to different suppliers that going to be sending it into the public."
READ: KZN to strengthen borders amid food poisoning incidents
He said with the spotlight on the spate of foodborne illnesses - they are keeping a close watch on any suspected expired food coming into the country, and ending up in the hands of informal traders...
“They got different clients that bring in different goods, yes, they might declare something else on the paper but maybe the reality of what they bringing in is not neccessarily what they declared”
Mkhwanazi said the majority of these items were thoroughly wrapped.
“Unless you break it open you will never know what's inside."
