Food outlets under tight watch

SANFROSSA MANYINDA writes

RESTAURANTS and quick-snacks outlets are under enhanced surveillance to ensure they comply with the Public Health Act, the Kitwe City Council has said.

Council public relations manager Roy Kuseka told the Sun regulations regarding places that prepared food for sale should be followed fully, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Mr Kuseka said no one would be allowed to handle food for public consumption without being certified medically fit while food should only be sold on a take-away basis in line the Public Health Act and the presidential directive.

“Before a restaurant is established, the council under the department of public health inspects the place and makes sure that it has got, among others, running water and proper sanitation,” he said.

Mr Kuseka said the council would continue carrying out inspections to see which restaurants were complying and which ones were not.

He said food handling remained the most important aspect, hence the need to ensure that hygiene was also a top priority.

It would be unfair and, in fact, unlawful for some restaurant owners to be handling food without following the right health procedures to unsuspecting consumers.

“We therefore call on all those that find restaurants that are not complying with the given guidelines and do not handle food in a proper manner to be reporting such places. If what will be required to protect the health of the citizens is to close down the places, we shall close them down,” Mr Kuseka said.

He also called on members of the general public to buy their food from designated places that handled food in a proper manner.