Named and shamed meat market mops up

An East London butchery which was exposed by the Saturday Dispatch as one of the dirtiest in the city, has already started cleaning up its act.

Lester's Meats at the Oriental Plaza in North End was one of 10 popular butcheries randomly visited by the newspaper last week to check whether or not they complied with health and safety regulations.

Almost all the butcheries visited transgressed safe practice rules, and a few had failed to comply with any of the rules set out in Act 918 of 1999, which stipulates regulations governing general hygiene requirements for food premises and the transport of food.

At Lester's Meats, almost all regulations were being flouted. Some of the transgressions included filthy floors and refrigerators, the handling of meat immediately after working with money, one meat handler scratching her head while tending to a customer and customers having to make use of a dirty knife and soiled cutting board to prepare their meat.

But on Sunday, workers at Lester's Meat were busy cleaning and painting the shop. The parking area in the front of the shop was cordoned off because workers were painting the facade. Inside, people were on their knees scrubbing the floor and cleaning.

The owners were, however, still reluctant to speak to the Dispatch. When a team approached the butchery to enquire about the big clean-up operation, the door was closed. The co-owner, known only as Esmè, later opened the door.

“What do you want now? We are closed. Haven't you people taken enough photographs already,” she asked before slamming the door.

Phone calls to the establishment later went unanswered.

The weekend story caused a stir on the DispatchOnline website, where Internet users congratulated the newspaper for “naming and shaming” the offending business.

“Thanks for doing this investigation. What we in East London need is for more of this and there should be naming and shaming of the culprits. Only this way can we clean up our lovely city,” said a blogger by the name of Phillip. Another contributor, Ingrid, called for establishments who flout regulations to be publicly exposed.

“I don't think pigs would even eat from these places,” she said.

Source: Daily Dispatch

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