A joint police and Harare City Council operation has resulted in over 25 butcheries’ closure in Harare with 754 business people and vendors arrested for selling uninspected meat, mostly in Dzivaresekwa.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi revealed that the operation was ongoing. He said:
The operation was conducted in the past seven days following reports that some butcheries were using chemicals to preserve their meat.
Police and health inspectors are still investigating the type of substances that are being used and the effects on consumers.
The operation was launched following complaints that some of the butcheries were selling uninspected meat, or worse still, meat preserved using embalming chemicals.
Formaldehyde, a powerful disinfectant and anti-fungicide but toxic, and listed as carcinogenic, is suspected to have been used by the unscrupulous butcheries.