South Africans may have been eating contaminated polony from the Enterprise factory in Polokwane for more than a year before the deadly listeria bacteria was finally identified by health authorities.
And even after being warned last month that listeria was rampant at its Polokwane factory, the Tiger Brands operation continued to churn out tons of potentially dangerous products, choosing to do only a “silent recall” of one brand, Mielie Kip, on February 14. The factory was shut down only last weekend, after the listeria strain was confirmed as being the deadly ST6.
These unsettling facts have prompted international and local health experts to warn that South Africa is sitting on a food safety time bomb after the most serious listeriosis outbreak in world history, which has claimed at least 183 lives.
And Tiger Brands faces a potentially huge class action lawsuit, which could be led by prominent US food safety lawyer Bill Marler, who arrived in South Africa this week.
Health authorities have slammed hygiene conditions at the Polokwane factory, and its shortcomings in food safety management, saying the plant was ridden with listeria.
Read the full story in the Sunday Times.
