[imagesource: Bedford Centre]

Without Woolies sandwiches, rotisserie chickens, and pies, many a student who didn’t bother to learn how to cook before leaving home, would have starved to death by now.

Or developed a bad case of scurvy from eating too many canned beans – whichever comes first.

The national state of disaster has put into effect a number of restrictions when it comes to what can and can’t be considered essential goods.

Unfortunately for those who were hoping to cultivate a diet of pies and chicken over the next few weeks, the sale of those items is now prohibited.

Woolworths has confirmed that it will no longer be selling hot goods, according to News24, but their lawyers have emphasised that the government is acting outside of lockdown regulations.

Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel told a media briefing last week that the selling of hot food by supermarkets was outlawed by lockdown regulations.

In response, Woolworths briefed its attorneys Webber Wentzel to provide a legal opinion on the matter, that could be used by store managers if they are confronted by law enforcement agents.

You can check out a copy of the legal opinion on Twitter:

Legal letter in my local Woolies, advising that the enforcement authorities are acting unlawfully in seeking to stop the sale of cooked food from counters, and that they potentially face a “significant civil claim”. pic.twitter.com/28nh8bCmmL

— Gus Silber (@gussilber) April 18, 2020

To summarise Webber Wentzel’s argument, cooked food is “vitally important to many Woolworths consumers”, some of whom don’t have access to a kitchen – “this applies particularly to essential service workers such as health workers.”

The lockdown regulations allow the selling of “any food product, including non-alcoholic beverages”. This, including to the legal opinion, means “any item that can be consumed by a human being… it does not matter whether the item is raw, processed, frozen or cooked; nor does it matter whether it is healthy or unhealthy; nor does it matter whether it is luxury or not. Whatever the item is, it can be sold to consumers.”

While Woolies is complying with the new regulations, the legal opinion above has been sent out to managers to use if authorities try to prohibit the sale of frozen prepared meals.

In other words, you’ll still be able to buy microwave meals, so you won’t have to live on peanut butter sarmies just yet. At some Woolies stores, you can even get them via the new drive-thru system.

Or, use this time to learn how to cook.

Seriously, if you have the time, now is the time.

[source:news24]