The Sunday Mail
Emmanuel Kafe
SOME unregistered meat shops and meat vendors who were using dangerous chemicals to preserve meat have gone into hiding as the Zimbabwe Republic Police and Harare City Council Department of Public Health are on a blitz to fish them out, The Sunday Mail Society has established.
This crackdown follows an investigative piece that was recently carried by this publication, exposing the scam.
While a few meat vendors are still openly selling meat at Mbare Musika, a survey conducted by The Sunday Mail Society revealed that most unregistered meat retailers in Mbare and other parts of Harare have either closed shop or vacated their premises.
Even their mobile phone numbers, which were used by this writer when we carried the meat story, are no longer in use.
The few that we managed to talk to refused to say anything related to selling or buying meat.
Statements like “I do not sell meat”, “It should be a wrong number” and “What are you talking about?” were the order of the day, as one butcher after the other refused to be associated with anything meat related.
When this publication revealed that dangerous chemicals, specifically formalin which is used in embalming human corpses, was being used to preserve meat by the unscrupulous elements, authorities sprung into action.
Almost two weeks ago, authorities announced that over 25 unlicensed meat shops had been shut down while nearly a thousand meat vendors had been arrested for selling uninspected meat. Samples from the raided shops have been taken to laboratories for further tests.
Meat from licensed abattoirs is inspected.
The Harare City Council said vendors cannot be licensed to sell meat as they do not have the proper facilities for the business.
The raided meat shops were in Mabvuku, Dzivaresekwa, Highfield, Southlea Park, Warren Park, Glen View and Budiriro.
The police have since embarked on crime awareness campaigns urging people to desist from buying meat from unscrupulous meat retailers.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said police and health inspectors are still investigating the type of substances being used and their effects on consumers.
“According to the Health Act, it is forbidden to use embalming substances on meat as this poses serious health risks to consumers,” he said.
Harare City Council principal communications officer Mr Innocent Ruwende said council would not hesitate to close businesses that are flouting the city’s by-laws.
“Routine meat hygiene monitoring and reports from the public have revealed that some operators are contravening sections of the Harare Meat By-laws of 1975 and the Public Health Act,” he said.
“Council will not hesitate to close such businesses. The health inspection which is done by the City Health Department when one is renewing or applying for a business licence is an important routine procedure which helps maintain safety and health standards.”
Council inspectors routinely visit meat shops and restaurants to check on records and service delivery before renewing licences.
According to the World Health Organisation, unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances such as formalin cause more than 200 diseases ranging from diarrhoea to cancer and respiratory diseases.
