The NCC is expected to play a leading role in investigating the sale of fake and expired foodstuffs nationwide.

“Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that the NCC’s contact centre is available to a wide spectrum of society and that incidents of food contamination or the sale of expired foods are reported timeously to enable an effective response,” said Ratshisusu.

“The NCC welcomes the support of ACT and individual member mobile operators for agreeing to zero-rate calls to the NCC’s contact centre. Some stakeholders had raised concerns that since the contact centre number is paid for, this may limit the ability of those with limited means to reach the contact centre. This intervention will therefore ensure that consumers can report incidents on the sale of fake or expired food as soon as such is identified,” said Ratshisusu.

ACT CEO, Nomvuyiso Batyi, commended the NCC for embarking on a proactive effort to address food safety fears and reaching out to join hands with the telecommunications industry in the national effort to curb the crisis.

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