Running a spaza shop legally and safely is more achievable than many owners expect. The rules exist to protect the people you serve, and once you understand them they become a straightforward checklist rather than a mystery. This guide walks through the whole process in plain terms: how to register the shop, how to get your Certificate of Acceptability, how to keep pests out with simple proofing, how to store food properly, and when to bring in a registered professional.
The urgency behind these requirements is real. After the tragedy in Naledi, Soweto, in October 2024, where six children under 10 died from eating snacks contaminated with the illegal street pesticide Terbufos, South Africa moved to tighten spaza shop registration and to enforce existing food-hygiene law. The message is clear: a shop that sells food must be safe, and being safe is not complicated. It is a set of habits and one or two documents. Let us go through them.
Key takeaways
- Register your spaza shop with your municipality and apply for a Certificate of Acceptability, which is required under Regulation R638 of 2018 for all food premises.
- Pest-proof the premises with simple measures: seal doors and holes, mesh vents and drains, store food off the floor, control waste and fix leaks. Most of this needs no chemicals at all.
- Never use agricultural chemicals or street poison indoors. Only rodenticides registered under Act 36 of 1947, applied by the label in tamper-resistant stations, are legal near food.
- Know what a health inspector checks, keep records, and call a registered pest control operator for any active infestation or whenever bait is needed.
Step 1: Register the shop
The first step is to register your business with your local municipality. Registration means the municipality knows the shop exists, who runs it and where it is, so that the premises can be inspected and held to a standard. Registration requirements were sharpened after 2024 as part of the national response to the spaza shop poisonings, and running an unregistered food shop now carries real risk of closure.
Visit your municipal offices, or the local ward office, and ask for the business licensing or environmental health department. Bring your identity document, proof of address for the premises and any trading permit your municipality requires. If you are a foreign national, you will also need to show that your immigration status permits you to trade. Registration and the Certificate of Acceptability are often handled by the same municipal office, so it is worth starting both at once.
Step 2: Get your Certificate of Acceptability
The Certificate of Acceptability is the single most important document for a food shop. Under Regulation R638 of 2018, the general hygiene requirements for food premises made under the National Health Act, no person may operate food premises without one. It is issued free of charge by your local authority.
To obtain it, you apply to your municipal environmental health office. An Environmental Health Practitioner then inspects your premises against the hygiene requirements of R638. If the premises meet the standard, the certificate is issued in the name of the person in charge and for the specific premises. It must be displayed in the shop. Among the things the inspector must be satisfied about is that the premises are kept free of pests and of the conditions that allow pests to breed and shelter, which is exactly why the pest-proofing steps below matter so much.
Step 3: Pest-proof the premises
Keeping pests out is mostly a matter of building and housekeeping, not chemicals. The goal is to deny pests the three things they need: a way in, something to eat and somewhere to hide. Work through this list. Those same exclusion measures underpin our retail and supermarket pest control programmes.
- Doors. Fit a door sweep or brush strip so there is no gap underneath. A house mouse, Mus musculus, slips through a gap the width of a pen, and a rat, Rattus norvegicus, through one the size of a R5 coin. Keep external doors closed when not in use.
- Holes and gaps. Seal holes around pipes, cables and in walls with steel wool packed into the gap and finished with sealant or cement. Rodents gnaw through soft filler, so use something they cannot chew.
- Vents and drains. Cover air vents and drain openings with fine metal mesh so they still breathe but pests cannot pass.
- Windows. Fit fly screens to any windows that open, to keep out flies and flying insects that contaminate exposed food.
These measures are permanent. Unlike poison, a sealed gap keeps working every day, year after year, at no ongoing cost.
Step 4: Store food safely, off the floor
How you store stock is a food-safety measure in its own right, and it is one of the first things an inspector notices. Follow these principles.
- Everything off the floor. Keep all food and stock on shelves or pallets, never directly on the ground. Floor-level storage invites rodents and hides the droppings and gnaw marks that warn of a problem.
- Sealed containers. Once a bag of maize meal, sugar, rice or flour is opened, decant it into a hard, sealable container with a tight lid. This protects it from rodents, cockroaches and moisture.
- Away from the wall. Leave a gap between stock and the wall so you can clean behind it and spot pest activity early. Pests love to run along wall edges where they feel hidden.
- First in, first out. Rotate stock so older items are sold first, and check dates. Old, forgotten stock at the back is where infestations start.
Step 5: Control waste and water
Pests are drawn to food scraps and to water just as strongly as to stock. Empty internal bins daily into a lidded bin kept outside and away from the door. Clear spills the moment they happen, sweep and mop at the end of each day, and fix dripping taps and leaking pipes promptly, since a single drip can sustain a rodent population. A clean, dry shop is an unwelcoming shop for pests, and that is the cheapest pest control there is.
Step 6: Never use agricultural chemicals indoors
This is the rule that everything else protects. Agricultural chemicals, including the organophosphate Terbufos that caused the Naledi deaths, are restricted agricultural remedies under Act 36 of 1947. They are not registered for indoor or food-premises use, which makes both buying them on the street and using them in your shop a criminal offence, quite apart from the deadly danger they pose. They cannot be seen, smelled or washed off contaminated food, and a small amount can kill a child.
Only pesticides that are registered under Act 36 of 1947 for the specific pest and setting, and applied exactly as the label states, may lawfully be used. For rodents that means a registered rodenticide inside a locked, tamper-resistant bait station, never loose bait and never a farm chemical. If you want the full picture on why street poison is so dangerous and how to report it, read our companion article on spaza shops and toxic chemicals, and our guide to why every spaza shop needs professional pest control.
Step 7: Know what a health inspector checks
When an Environmental Health Practitioner visits, they are checking whether your premises meet R638. Knowing what they look for lets you prepare. Typically they will check that you have a valid, displayed Certificate of Acceptability, that the premises are clean and in good repair, and that food is stored correctly, off the floor and in sealed containers. They will look for signs of pests such as droppings, gnaw marks, cockroaches or flies, and for the conditions that attract them, such as gaps, spills, standing water and overflowing bins. They will check that any pesticides on the premises are registered and used correctly, and they will want to see evidence that you control pests, which is where a service record from a registered operator is invaluable.
| What the inspector checks | What you should have in place |
|---|---|
| Certificate of Acceptability | Valid, in your name, displayed in the shop |
| Cleanliness and repair | Premises clean, surfaces intact, no gaps or holes |
| Food storage | Stock off the floor, in sealed containers, rotated |
| Pest signs | No droppings, gnaw marks or live pests; entry points sealed |
| Pesticides on site | Only registered products, correctly labelled and stored, no street poison |
| Pest control evidence | Written service record from a registered operator |
Step 8: When to call a registered pest control operator
Good hygiene and proofing prevent most problems, but there are clear moments to bring in a registered professional. Call one when you see any sign of an active infestation, such as droppings, gnaw marks, live rodents or cockroaches, or when a problem persists despite your best housekeeping. You should also engage a registered operator whenever bait needs to be placed, because rodenticides must be registered under Act 36 of 1947, applied by the label and kept in tamper-resistant stations that no child can open. A registered operator running our rodent control programmes places bait safely in tamper-resistant stations and keeps the record an inspector will accept.
A registered pest control operator does three things street poison never can: they treat the problem safely, they address the cause so it does not return, and they give you a written service record that satisfies the health inspector as proof of pest control. If your shop shares a building with living space, our guide to residential pest control covers protecting the home alongside the shop. Getting this right is affordable, and it is the surest way to protect your customers, your family and your business.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Certificate of Acceptability and does my spaza shop need one?
It is the licence that permits food premises to handle food for the public, required under Regulation R638 of 2018 and applying to spaza shops. No one may operate food premises without one. It is issued free of charge by your municipality after an Environmental Health Practitioner inspects the premises. Apply through your municipal environmental health office.
How do I pest-proof my spaza shop without using chemicals?
Most proofing needs no chemicals. Fit a door sweep so there is no gap under the door, seal holes around pipes and in walls, mesh vents and drains, store food in sealed containers off the floor, empty bins daily, and fix dripping taps. Removing food, water and entry points keeps pests out and your premises legal.
When should a spaza shop call a registered pest control operator?
Call one when you see droppings, gnaw marks or live pests, when a problem persists, or whenever bait needs placing, since rodenticides must be registered under Act 36 of 1947 and used in tamper-resistant stations. A registered operator provides safe treatment and a service record the inspector will accept. Never use agricultural chemicals or street poison indoors.
