The Suva City Council has issued a warning that heavy fines will be imposed on vendors who will continue to sell packed banned cooked food, in the Suva Market as well as other market outlets within the Suva municipality.

Special Administrator for Suva and Lami Marica Hallacy said such cooked foods are being sold under un-sanitary conditions that render the food dangerous to health, and the fine under the new Food and Safety Act is $50,000 or ten years imprisonment.

She has stressed that as authorized officers, their health inspectors have the authority to inspect, examine and remove the food if they have reasonable ground to believe that they are unsafe for human consumption.

Hallacy said seafood being sold in its same conditions as when harvested are not banned.

Her comments come after a woman died after eating cooked mud crabs or Mana brought from the Suva Market.