“Health led consumers into a listeria hysteria” – RMIF

With listeria currently a buzzword on nearly everyone’s lips, the Red Meat Industry Forum (RMIF) and local processed meat producers accuse the Minister of Health for issuing a statement allegedly containing inadequate information and resulting in misinformation which is not only detrimental to consumers but also to the South African red meat industry.
The statement by Minister Aaron Motsoaledi reported the source of listeria bacteria having been traced to Enterprise Foods in Polokwane and another facility in Germiston and caused frustration among small business owners and families. The forum in a media statement responded that the information released by Motsoaledi has led consumers experiencing ‘listeria hysteria’ with unfortunate consequences for families relying on processed meat as their source of protein.
“The RMIF and its member organisations, including the South African Meat Processors Association are deeply concerned that the entire processed meat industry has been implicated without justification. The devastating consequences emanating from the media coverage thus far as a result of the Minister’s media release has had far reaching and catastrophic impact on the processed meat industry and the red meat industry in its entirety,” the statement read.
It was further reported that while the industry is responsible for producing food that is safe for human consumption, it is also the responsibility of consumers not to content themselves, that the only contamination can come from the facilities implicated, but to adopt basic hygienic practices when buying, transporting food, preparing and storing food to protect their health and to ensure that cross contamination does not occur between cooked and raw products or from human hands and equipment.
Firefly Meat Processing Plant owner, Armand van Rooyen told Polokwane Observer that the Minister’s pronouncement to say people should refrain from eating cold meat affected the businesses hence he opted to display certificates on the doors of his factory for customers to see that his products have tested negative for listeria bacteria.
He further said the current status of the economy has a bad impact on businesses already, adding that the listeria outbreak will cost a lot of people in factories jobs because of the low demand of ready-to-eat meat products. Van Rooyen agreed that listeria was a serious issue but reiterated that the manner used by Motsoaledi to dish out information was wrong and affected businesses tremendously.
“Consumers should buy products from reliable manufacturers and make sure that they wash and or cook the products before consumption to kill the bacteria that might be there. We conduct tests on a monthly basis on both our surfaces and end products to ensure that customers eat healthy food,” he stated, adding that it was still safe to eat polonies and Viennas from other manufacturers.
Motsoaledi addressed Members of the Provincial Legislature on the issue of listeria in Lebowakgomo on Tuesday. He reportedly said listeria was not a new disease in the country, it has been there for more than 40 years, and typically doctors used to see and treat between 60 and 80 infected people per annum.
He further said the disease is treatable with an antibiotic called Ampicillin which is wildly available in health facilities. Nevertheless, it is a very virulent disease and hence can cause a lot of damage resulting in death as it is, he added.
“We advised members of the public to avoid all processed meat products that are sold as ready-to-eat. While we know that polony is definitely implicated, we were worried by the risk of cross-contamination of other ready-to-eat processed meat products, either at production, distribution or retail. This is because listeria monocytegenes was found on the exterior casing (packaging), and this can be transferred to other products it comes into contact with, including viennas, Russians, frankfurters, other sausages and other cold meat products that are typically not cooked,” he stated, adding that members of the public must continue obeying general food hygiene rules.

Story: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za