Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Listeriosis

latest news & developments
Late last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a state of disaster after six children from Soweto died from eating chips. Could a single agency that monitors food safety be the answer? (Canva)
AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS

How a single body could make South Africa’s food safer

Researchers say part of the problem is the lack of coordination across the nation’s sprawling multi-agency system

  • Zano Kunene
7 min read
Gatvol: Citizens march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria protesting against corruption in government. (Delwyn Verasamy)
BANKS

Unethical businesses will face people’s protest

Companies must behave like model democratic citizens if they are to earn and retain society’s social licence to operate

  • William Gumede
5 min read
In a note to shareholders, Tiger Brands said no specific damages were being claimed. The first stage of the class action is concerned with liability, and not the cost of damages, it said.
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

Tiger Brands receives listeriosis class action summons, vows to fight it

In February, the Johannesburg high court determined that Richard Spoor Attorneys could go ahead with a class action application

  • Khulekani Magubane
1 min read
In a note to shareholders, Tiger Brands said no specific damages were being claimed. The first stage of the class action is concerned with liability, and not the cost of damages, it said.
AARON MOTSOALEDI

Listeriosis class action given the greenlight

The listeriosis outbreak — the largest in recorded history — killed 218 people after more than 1 000 contracted the disease between 2016 and 2018.

  • Sarah Smit
3 min read
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)
AARON MOTSOALEDI

Enterprise claws its way back after listeriosis outbreak

Although the Enterprise Polokwane processed meat factory remains closed, Tiger Brands reopened its Germiston plant last month

  • Lynley Donnelly
4 min read
The Listeriosis crisis affected not only Tiger Brands, but the industry as a whole
BRANDS

South Africa’s reputation leaders

Mr Price had a significant rise, while Tiger Brands had a phenomenal drop

  • Cayleigh Bright
4 min read
Foreign spaza shop owners told the press last week they blamed recent violent looting in Soweto on allegations of fake food in the township. (David Harrison).
LISTERIOSIS

No evidence of ‘fake food’, but tap water is sold as spring water, Motsoaledi says

But inspectors uncover counterfeit bottled water and spices.

  • Bhekisisa Team Author
2 min read
In a note to shareholders, Tiger Brands said no specific damages were being claimed. The first stage of the class action is concerned with liability, and not the cost of damages, it said.
BLOOMBERG AUTHOR

Tiger Brands may never know how listeria entered its plant

The food brand is still waiting for data from authorities that would definitively show whether its products are connected to the deadly crisis

  • Thembisile Dzonzi
  • Bloomberg Author
3 min read
Joan van Dyk tells you what to bin and how in under two minutes.
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

Class action suit against Tiger Brands set in motion

An application for a class action lawsuit against Tiger Brands and Enterprise Foods has been filed in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg

  • Mashadi Kekana
2 min read
The former ANC treasurer is accused of lieing about and hiding the ANC’s debt when he was in office.
BRAZIL

SA halts some meat imports from Brazil

But there’s “no evidence” that listeria was imported from elsewhere in the world

  • Lynley Donnelly
7 min read
In a note to shareholders, Tiger Brands said no specific damages were being claimed. The first stage of the class action is concerned with liability, and not the cost of damages, it said.
ENTERPRISE FOODS

Three major mistakes Tiger Brands made in response to the listeriosis crisis

South Africa’s food making giant, Tiger Brands, could have handled the listeriosis crisis better.

  • Ilse Struweg
5 min read
Caster Semenya can return to competition without restriction until the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland advises otherwise. (Getty)
ENTERPRISE FOODS

Traces of listeria see another Tiger Brands factory shut down

The company is closing down an abattoir and another factory in the hope of finding out how Listeria ended up in its products

  • Gemma Ritchie
1 min read
Department of Health spokesperson Popo Maja said the department has not read the statement and is not yet able to comment.
AARON MOTSOALEDI

Wolwehoek polony factory has been cleared of listeriosis— RCL

​RCL Foods said in a statement on Friday that no trace of the listeria strain was found in the Free State polony facility of its subsidiary Rainbow

  • Khulekani Magubane
2 min read
AARON MOTSOALEDI

Jobs shed as cooked meat sales dip

Listeriosis has already caused a fifth of processing industry workers to be laid off, analysts warn

  • Lynley Donnelly
5 min read
Remembering the dead: Mental health activists protesting outside the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearings in Johannesburg.
BHEKISISA TEAM

Why aren’t government officials losing sleep over #Listeriosis and #LifeEsidimeni?

Both Life Esidimeni and Listeriosis exposed leadership cracks in our public health system. Are political leaders held accountable for their actions?

  • Mia Malan
  • Bhekisisa Team
7 min read