LUSAKA, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Local authorities in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, on Thursday pounced on an illegal wine factory at a public colleges and shut it.
Public health officials from the Lusaka City Council (LCC) closed the factory which has been operating illegally at Evelyn Hone College which has been manufacturing fake wines following a complaint from the institution's administration after it noticed a fermentation smell coming from the school canteen.
George Sichimba, the council's spokesperson said the officials found all processes involved in the making and packaging of the product were being done in one place.
"Workers at the factory manually packaged the wine into bottles without any protective equipment and no measures were in place to allow for safe food handling," he said in a release.
The factory was packaging the wine into bottles labelled with local names such as Zikomo (thank you), chibe pakapaka (sweat) and sansamukeni (be happy).
He added that the owner of the factory did not have any papers or permits allowing him to manufacture and distribute the wine, which was contrary to local government laws.
The authorities have since seized all the goods that were in the factory until investigations are concluded, he added.
The local authority has since warned members of the public to be on the lookout for such products that look as innocent soft drinks but have unknown alcohol/chemical contents in them. Enditem
