Refunds and recalls over listeriosis shock in the Lowveld

MBOMBELA – Residents will be refunded for the food products they return to local stores, which may be infected with listeria. Locals are also urged to immediately stop the consumption of several products, identified as a vector of the deadly disease.
Several products now known as a source of the countrywide listeriosis outbreak, have in the meanwhile been removed from the shelves of local retail giants like SPAR, Pick n Pay, Shoprite and even Woolworths, and the stores have agreed to refund customers.
After months of trying to determine the source of the outbreak, believed to be the largest in world history, minister of health Aaron Motsoaledi on Sunday announced that Enterprise Foods and Rainbow Chicken were believed to be the source.
The manufacturers were instructed to recall the products produced by Enterprise and RCL Food in their Polokwane, Germiston and Free State factories and to cease production.

Ready-to-eat favourites such as Rainbow Simply Chicken viennas, and Enterprise polony have been recalled.
Other products which could be affected are Enterprise processed meats (chilled and frozen), including Rainbow, Renown, Bokkie, Mieliekip and Lifestyle. Enterprise canned meat products are, however, safe for consumption.
SPAR, Pick n Pay, Checkers and Shoprite, immediately urged all its retailers to remove potentially affected products from their shelves.
They also confirmed that they will refund all customers. The food manufacturers are expected to refund the retailers. As a precautionary measure, Woolworths also recalled a number of viennas and cold meat products. Tiger Brand’s share price took a massive 13 per cent tumble.
RCL Foods and Tiger Brands also suspended production at the affected sites.
Fred Kinnear, owner of Canary Walk Mall, assured local customers that his tenant, Shoprite, does not sell any of the affected products.
Alison Zweers, MD of SPAR Lowveld, said the health and safety of their customers is of paramount importance and all stores are following strict contamination protocols.
“Shelves, fridges, display areas and all equipment in the store are being cleaned with the prescribed chemicals to avoid cross-contamination,” she said.
She added that none of these suppliers pack any of the SPAR-brand processed meat products, hence they are safe for consumption.
A total of 180 people has died, and 948 cases of the disease have been recorded since the outbreak began in January last year.
Of these, 34 cases had been confirmed in Mpumalanga for this period of time, of which eight were fatal.
Pregnant women, newborns, elderly people and anyone with a weak immune system are vulnerable to listeriosis.
It can take infected people up to 90 days to show symptoms.

Infection with listeria may result in the following three conditions

• Flu-like illness with diarrhoea including fever, general body pains, vomiting and weakness
• Infection of the bloodstream, which is called septiceamia
• Meningoencephalitis (infection of the brain).

How to avoid it

• Keep clean. Wash your hands before handling food and often during food preparation. Please do not get tired of washing your hands. If it means washing a hundred times a day, do it.
• If you are handling or storing raw food, don’t touch already cooked food unless you have thoroughly washed your hands and food-preparation utensils. In other words, separate raw from cooked food.
• Cook food thoroughly. Never eat half-cooked or uncooked food, especially meat products. Food that does not usually need cooking before eating, needs to be thoroughly washed with clean running water. Families with no source of clean running water need to boil their water before domestic use.
• Keep food at safe temperatures. Food to be kept cold should be refrigerated and food to be served hot should be served hot.
• Use safe water for domestic use at all times and use pasteurised milk products. In situations where pastueurisation is not possible, for own domestic consumption, please boil the milk prior to use.

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