There are growing concerns about the number of learners falling ill from suspected food poisoning. In Bronkhorstspruit, local community members have shut down shops selling allegedly expired goods, following an incident where 25 learners became sick after eating snacks from street vendors near their school. Earlier this week, four learners were hospitalized after 47 students at Rapelego Primary in Hammanskraal suffered from food poisoning. Similarly, 21 learners from Marhagi Secondary School in Verena, Mpumalanga, were also hospitalized after consuming achar from a street vendor. In a tragic incident last week, six children lost their lives in Naledi, Soweto, due to suspected food poisoning. For more on this here is the Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Jane Sithole