Why Spaza Shops Must Never Use Toxic Agricultural Chemicals for Pest Control

Pest control in a food environment is a matter of life and safety long before it is a matter of compliance. That truth was brought home with terrible clarity in South Africa in 2024, when a series of child deaths across several communities was linked to suspected pesticide poisoning associated with food. In one especially devastating incident in Naledi, Soweto, in October 2024, six young children died. In response, authorities acted against the illegal street sale and misuse of agricultural pesticides, including the organophosphate Terbufos, and moved to recall and control the products being used unlawfully in and around informal food premises.

These were preventable tragedies, and they carry a clear message for every spaza shop, tuckshop and informal food trader in the country: the agricultural chemicals sometimes sold on the street for rodents have no place anywhere near food, ever. This guide explains why, what the law requires, and what to do instead. It is the reason our retail and supermarket pest control programmes exist.

Why street pesticides are so dangerous

The chemicals sold informally for "killing rats" are usually not household products at all. They are concentrated agricultural pesticides diverted from farm use. The two most often reported are organophosphates, including Terbufos, which has circulated under informal street names such as "Galephirime", and the carbamate aldicarb, informally known as "Two Step".

These substances are formulated to be applied to soil and crops under strict, controlled conditions by trained, protected operators. They were never intended to be handled by hand, kept in a home, or placed where food is stored and sold. They are acutely toxic to the human nervous system, act extremely quickly, and cannot be seen, smelled or washed off food once it has been contaminated. There is no safe way to use them indoors or near food. When they are placed in a shop or home where children live and eat, the risk is not theoretical, it is immediate and severe.

Why it is illegal, not just unsafe

South African law is unambiguous on this point. The Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act (Act 36 of 1947) governs every pesticide sold and used in the country. Under that Act, a pesticide is registered for a specific purpose and setting, and it is a criminal offence to use it for anything other than what its label authorises, or to sell it for an unauthorised use.

Agricultural pesticides are simply not registered for indoor use or for use on food premises. That makes the informal street trade in them, and their use in a spaza shop, illegal on two counts: the sale and the application. The law exists precisely to keep these dangerous substances out of the environments where they can harm people. When it comes to food premises, the same principle applies to every business, informal or formal: only registered products, applied by the label, are lawful.

What spaza shops should do instead

Effective, safe rodent control does not require dangerous chemicals. It requires the right approach, in this order: Our rodent control programmes are built on exactly that hierarchy.

1. Remove the food and water. Rodents come for a meal. Store all stock and food in sealed containers off the floor, clear spillages immediately, empty bins daily, and fix dripping taps. This single step does more than any poison.
2. Close the door on them. Seal the gaps rodents use, under doors, around pipes, in walls. A mouse can enter through a gap the width of a pen; a rat through one the size of a coin. Exclusion is permanent; poison is not.
3. Use only registered rodenticides in tamper-resistant stations. If bait is needed, use a rodenticide that is registered under Act 36 of 1947 for that use, placed inside a lockable, tamper-resistant bait station that a child or pet cannot open, and used strictly according to the label. Never use loose bait, and never a farm chemical.
4. Call a registered professional for anything persistent. A recurring problem is a sign of a structural or hygiene issue that needs expertise, not a stronger chemical. A registered pest control operator can solve it safely and legally.

How to report illegal pesticides

The street trade in agricultural pesticides is a public-health threat to whole communities, and it can be reported. If you know of illegal pesticides being sold or used near food:

• Report it to your local municipal Environmental Health Practitioner through your municipality, they enforce food-premises hygiene law.
• Contact the Department of Agriculture, which administers Act 36 of 1947 and pesticide registration, to report unregistered or misused agricultural remedies.
• Report criminal sale of dangerous substances to the South African Police Service (SAPS).

Reporting protects children who cannot protect themselves. It is one of the most valuable things a community member can do.

A closing note

The child deaths linked to street pesticides are a public-health tragedy that has touched families and communities deeply. Nothing written here can undo that loss. What we can all do is ensure it is not repeated: by keeping dangerous farm chemicals out of our shops and homes, by using only safe, registered products correctly, and by reporting those who trade in poison. Every spaza owner who chooses the safe, legal path is protecting a child.

If you suspect a poisoning, seek emergency medical care without delay and contact a poison information centre. South Africa's poison information services can be reached by telephone and provide 24-hour guidance to the public and to healthcare workers. Keep a poison information number saved on your phone, it is a resource every household should have.

Frequently asked questions

ASC Pest Control, written by food safety auditors ASC Pest Control is part of the ASC Food Safety Consultants group: the only pest control company in South Africa owned by accredited food safety specialists. Registered PCOs (Act 36 of 1947), SANS 10133 aligned.