Tiger Brands seeks cause of listeria at its Polokwane plant

Tiger Brands said on Friday it was doing everything possible to get to the root cause of the listeria bacterium at its Enterprise Foods’ Limpopo facility.

“We acknowledge and recognise that we are dealing with a national crisis which has impacted customers‚ consumers and the industry. Tiger Brands wants to be at the forefront of finding a solution‚” said Tiger Brands chief executive Lawrence MacDougall.

The company said Enterprise Foods had received a report from the Department of Health on Thursday confirming the presence of Listeria monocytogenes ST6 (LST6) strain in its Polokwane factory.

On Sunday‚ the department announced that the source of the current outbreak of listeriosis was Enterprise Foods’ Polokwane facility.

Tiger Brands initiated the withdrawal of all its ready-to-eat meat products on Sunday and closed two factories making these products – Polokwane and Germiston.

Since the outbreak of listeriosis last year‚ 180 deaths have been recorded. Listeriosis is caused by eating foods contaminated with the listeria bacteria.

MacDougall said on Friday it had appointed a team of local and international scientists to assist in getting to the root cause of the bacteria.

Tiger Brands said Enterprise Foods’ Polokwane and Germiston factories would remain closed while the company conducted a deep cleaning process‚ adding that the recall of its ready-to-eat chilled processed meat products was well advanced.

Trucks have been dedicated to remove the products‚ which are being kept in a quarantine warehouse awaiting disposal by incineration.