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Sukoluhle Ndlovu, Midlands Correspondent
THE majority of supermarkets, restaurants and food vendors in the Midlands province have complied with the kaylite ban except for only seven back yard food outlets that have been fined for non-compliance, an official has said.

In an interview on Tuesday, Environment Management Agency (EMA) Midlands education and publicity officer, Mr Simon Musasiwa, said only seven backyard food outlets had been fined $30 each for non-compliance.

Although he could not disclose the number of supermarkets and restaurants that had heeded Government’s directive to ban the use of kaylites, Mr Musasiwa said they were pleased with the positive response they were getting.

“As an organisation we are very happy that most major players in the food industry in the province are adhering to the directive,” he said. “However, we are still having problems with these small food outlets that are still using kaylites.

“We have so far fined about seven backyard food outlets that were found using kaylites and we confiscated the kaylites. Each outlet was made to pay a $30 fine.”

Mr Musasiwa said most of the backyard food outlets they fined were operating illegally.

He urged members of the public to report any food outlet found packing food in a kaylite.

“We are appealing to members of the public to assist is curbing the use of kaylite in the province by reporting anyone who is found in possession of kaylites,” said Mr Musasiwa.

“We also want to strongly warn the public to desist from breaking the law as they will be prosecuted.”

Government activated statutory instrument 84 of 2002, which bans the use of kaylites.

It is understood kaylites get heated during food packaging and as a result some gas from the container is mixed with food and this gas causes cancer.

Kaylite is widely used by fast food outlets as packaging for takeaways.