Blanket pilchard ban threatens jobs
Lucky Star pilchards, which is totally unrelated to the brands of canned fish being pulled from shelves, say their brand is unfairly being targeted by a blanket ban, which saw pilchards being taken out of all school feeding schemes. They warn that this could lead to massive losses, which could in turn affect jobs.
The Lucky Star Pilchard brand fears that it is being unfairly affected by the blanket ban on canned fish at government schools. Picture: Twitter
A decision by the department of basic education (DBE) to impose an immediate countrywide suspension on canned pilchards – as part of the national school nutrition menu across all schools in
the country – could have a ripple effect on the fishing industry, with at the Oceana Group Limited, which owns the Lucky Star brand, warning that jobs could be affected.
Government’s blanket decision was also bound to have negative brand and huge financial losses, running into millions, according to Zodwa Velleman, Oceana Group Limited executive for regulatory and corporate affairs.
Despite the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications(NRCS) not having cited Lucky Star as being unsuitable for human consumption in its recent order to all formal wholesalers, retailers and informal traders to remove and the 400g pilchards in tomato sauce and 400g pilchards in chili sauce with immediate effect, the DBE’s blanket ban was “a source of concern”.
The canned fish is a common item consumed by learners in all schools, offered to more than 9.2 million learners in schools daily.
The department said the decision followed the outcome of the NRCS investigation, which revealed a deficiency in the canning process.
Velleman said the DBE’s drastic measure for the total ban of pilchards in schools caused confusion and affected the Lucky Star brand, which was “safe to eat and cleared by the NRCS”.
She said: “We have noted the developments around the recall of tinned pilchards produced by West Point Processors.
“The Lucky Star brand of pilchards and all Lucky Star products are in no way linked to the recall of pilchard products and are safe to eat. All Lucky Star products are verified as safe to eat by the National Regulator for Compulsory Specification (NRCS).”
The company has engaged the DBE “to convince government that our brand should not be affected, due to having been cleared by the NRCS”.
“They are incorrectly basing their decision on assumption that the NRCS mentioned all canned fish products, which is not the case with Lucky Star. This has certainly damaged
our good brand, which is being pre-inspected by the regulator before distribution to wholesalers. In the manufacturing process, we have always put as our priority, the safety of consumers of our product,” Velleman said.
Incorrect processing and packaging of food can lead to some serious illness, and even death.
Graphic Costa Makola
She said government’s blanket ban on pilchards could affect several casual and permanent jobs, if not reversed by the DBE.
“This development has caused great uncertainty on job security. We live in a digital economy and our company operates globally in 46 countries. Once bad news – whether incorrect – reach our markets in Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique, there is likely to be a cause for concern from overseas countries.”
Velleman said there were schools in the Western Cape that relied on Lucky Star pilchards in a feeding scheme programme, which was not part of the DBE.
“Our outreach through our corporate social investment to communities, churches and emergency situations, is likely to suffer,” said Velleman.
brians@citizen.co.za
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