A nare meat factory on the Cape Flats has given new meaning to honne worsies aka penny polonies after they were busted for allegedly making sausage with dog food.
The Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) has now called for stricter food safety regulations following the bust in Mfuleni on Wednesday.
A nauseating video by officials showed dog food on a metal table which was apparently being put through a sausage machine.
It also shows a broken car inside the dirty building amid a heap of rubble, emmers with dirty water and meat being packaged in the morsige place. Labels with “Diamond Wors” were also confiscated.
The City’s Mayco member for Safety and Security JP Smith says: “After receiving a tip, the authorities launched a joint operation involving SAPS Crime Intelligence, city officials, and City Health staff, along with investigators from the City's Strategic Information Management Service.”
Among their key findings were that wors was being processed and packaged in vuil conditions, while it was also suspected that the owner and four employees were in the country illegally.
Smith said everyone on the premises was detained, adding: “The premises was declared a crime scene, and forensics experts are processing the contents and confiscating food samples for further testing.”
A Mfuleni resident who asked not to be named told the Daily Voice: “This was a busy shop, we would see a lot of customers. They supplied Somali spaza shops in Mfuleni, Delft and Khayelitsha. We had suspected that there was something wrong with the sausage and when we heard that there was dog food in it, I was completely shocked.”
On Thursday the factory was closed. The blue building located next to a spaza winkel had no signage.
Mayco member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Patricia Van der Ross said: "A fine was issued in terms of health legislation, and the case will be prepared for court in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act. Arrests were made by the enforcement agencies.“
FAWU provincial secretary Zolani Mbanjwa said South Africans are facing a serious challenge when it comes to food safety.
“We need the government to enforce inspections, especially in our communities because inspections are mostly done in proper shops in city centres but not in townships.
“We could see the dirty water that was added to the sausage, and the machines were grimy.”
Mbanjwa adds: “Foreigners have decided to go to townships because they know that there is no legislation that is adhered to.
“They produce at a cheaper price and sell at a low price.”
Meanwhile President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation in the coming days regarding the regulation of spaza shops.
This after several children died after allegedly eating snacks from a spaza shop in Gauteng.