Mozambique: INAE closes 11 bakeries for hygiene and cleanliness irregularities – Watch

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Mozambique: INAE closes 11 bakeries for hygiene and cleanliness irregularities – Watch

2:55 CAT | 15 Jul 2020

Photo: O País

Eleven bakery industries were closed across the country during the past week on the grounds of non-compliance with hygiene and cleanliness regulations.

The anomalies were detected during inspections by the National Inspection of Economic Activities (INAE) concerning the increase in the price of bread.

Tomás Timba, National Director of Operations for Industry, Commerce, Tourism and Transport at the INAE, said 149 bakeries had been inspected.

“During the inspections, we found a lack of objective criteria for the rise in the price of bread. Some bakeries had increased prices by 1 to 1.5 meticais, while in others the price remained the same, and yet others had reduced the price. So it’s not clear what the justification is,” Timba said.

He said that Inhambane bakers, for example, had postponed the increase in the price of bread until August, as a way of easing the cost of living for citizens in the face of the Covid-19 crisis.

“We will continue to work to determine what the price of bread should be, taking into account the weight of the product and the purchase price of wheat flour, for the readjustment to be uniform across the country,” Timba added.

During the week under review, INAE inspected 871 economic units, and closed 50 for failure to comply with Covid-19 prevention measures.

“At the time, we seized products which were out of date or in poor condition worth 529,170 meticais,” Timbe revealed.

Non-compliant supermarkets in Lichinga

The INAE found irregularities in some supermarkets in the city of Lichinga, in Niassa, including not being licensed to exercise economic activities, poor hygiene in the bathrooms and in the production and storage of the raw material used for the production of bread, and having no fire extinguishers, Rita Freitas reported.

Rita Freitas had recommended managers of the three Lichinga supermarkets to correct some of these deficiencies by Monday, and others within three months.

Rita Freitas met businesspeople in Lichinga last week, and urged upon them the full observance of laws governing commercial activity and of measures designed to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.