Tiger Brands: No link to listeriosis deaths and our products
Tiger Brands says there is no direct link between the deaths of 180 from outbreak of listerioris and the company’s products
The firm’s CEO Lawrence MacDougall briefed the media in Johannesburg on Monday.
Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi revealed on Sunday that the source of the outbreak could be traced back to Tiger Brands' Enterprise Factory in Polokwane.
The company’s factory in Germiston also tested positive for the disease, but the sequence type is yet to be confirmed.
The company is recalling all it's ready-to-eat meat products manufacturered at the two facilities.
"We have not received the results from the government yet. We are acting without that information so we don't know what it is. So we are taking precautions to protect the consumer. There is no direct link between the deaths and our products that we are aware of at this point," said MacDougall.
He says 40% of the environmental swabs taken for tests by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NCID) at its factory in Polokwane in February, came back positive for the ST6 Listeria strain, but no products were implicated.
MacDougall insisted that all safety and quality control measures are up to standard and that the company was even more vigilant following last year’s outbreak.
"As soon as there is evidence and as soon as we have unrefutable evidence of a link between the deaths and our products then we will have that conversation," said MacDougall.
He says the financial implications of the recall are still being calculated, and that the company’s doors are open to any member of the public who believes the company’s products are responsible for their ill-health.