Category Archives: south africa

Research – Publisher’s Platform: The World’s Largest and Deadliest Listeria Outbreak is turning 4 in March

Posted on January 27, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

In March of this year it will be 4 years since I boarded a flight from Seattle to Johannesburg (20 plus hour flight) to speak at a food safety conference just days after the South African health authorities announced that a Listeria outbreak had been linked to a product named polony manufactured by the largest food manufacturer in Africa.

I recall how similar it felt to the early days of the Jack-in-the-Box E. coli outbreak of 1993– how everyone seemed honestly shocked that such a tragedy could happen.

I have spent the last 4 years working (being 10 hours behind has required far too many late nights and early morning calls) with a cadre of amazing lawyers and more amazing staff moving forward in the first foodborne illness class action in Africa.  We have much to do to find justice to the more than 1,000 sickened and their families.  I am saddened by the pace of the litigation, but determined to take care of our class members – we have to work harder.

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Posted in Death, Decontamination Microbial, food bourne outbreak, food death, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning Death, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, outbreak, south africa

South Africa – Tiger Brands outbreak killed young mother, leaving her twin sisters to raise her daughter – Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on March 1, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

South African Nthabiseng Zaza liked traveling and gospel music. She liked shoes, especially designer brands like Michael Kors. “She was the life of the party,” Matlhogonolo said, Nthabiseng’s 26-year-old sister.

Nthabiseng was a person who loved family above all else. She always wanted to have kids and was blessed with a daughter, Onthathile, who turns 5 this month. Matlhogonolo Chantell and her twin sister Michell Masego Zaza are raising their sister’s daughter.

Onthathile doesn’t remember much of her mother, who at the age of 35 died from listeriosis in Oct. 2018. Her death was part of a Listeria outbreak in South Africa that was traced to Tiger Brand’s polony — processed deli meat similar to baloney.

However, it wasn’t until 2020 that the family found out what had caused their Nthabiseng’s mysterious illness. They knew only that many people in the country were getting sick.

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Posted in Death, food bourne outbreak, food death, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, listeriosis, microbial contamination, Microbiology, outbreak, Research, south africa

Research – Lab work in South Africa’s Listeria outbreak was ‘remarkable’

Posted on May 18, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Researchers have described how a laboratory handled increased demand during the 2017-2018 listeriosis outbreak in South Africa.

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) and epidemiological data were used to determine the source of the outbreak as ready-to-eat processed meat manufactured by Enterprise Foods.

A total of 1,060 cases were reported from January 2017 to July 2018 and 216 people died.

The largest ever reported outbreak of listeriosis included an alert in mid-June 2017, a peak in mid-November 2017, and identification of the outbreak source in mid-February 2018.

“This eight-month timeline was rather remarkable, considering the large number of cases involved and the limited capacity and resources available for foodborne disease outbreak investigations in South Africa,” according to researchers.

The study is published in the Foodborne Pathogens and Disease journal

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Posted in food bourne outbreak, food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, foodborne disease, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, outbreak, south africa, Uncategorized

South Africa – Listeriosis under control, says health minister

Posted on May 17, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Health 24 

 

The listeriosis epidemic is under control after product recalls, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said during his Budget Vote in Parliament.

Cape Town – The listeriosis epidemic is under control now that meat products from Enterprise and Rainbow Chicken have been recalled, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told Parliament on Tuesday.

“Since the recall, we have had fewer than five cases a week in the past five weeks compared to 40 a week before the recall,” Motsoaledi said during his R205bn Budget Vote in Parliament

Health 24

Health24 spoke to Dr Juno Thomas, the Head of the Centre for Enteric Diseases at the NICD, about the severity of the situation. She asserted that while the death toll has risen, it is important to look at the cases as they continue to decline: from 90 cases to 40 cases a week.

She also explained that Listeria affects people with weaker immune systems, making babies and the elderly more vulnerable to the illness. According to Dr Thomas, pregnant women with Listeriosis pass the illness on to the baby through the placenta, “hence the severity in the baby”.

Regarding the second highest group, Dr Thomas attributes this to two factors. “Firstly, women in that group are of childbearing age, and secondly this age group has the highest statistics for HIV, making them a risk factor.”

NICD – Listeria Outbreak Statistics

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Posted in food bourne outbreak, food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, outbreak, south africa, Uncategorized

South Africa – Listeria Outbreak Update Report

Posted on May 6, 2018 by | Leave a comment

NICD

  1. HIGHLIGHTS

 Phase 1 of the listeriosis emergency response plan (ERP) to strengthen the response to the listeriosis outbreak has been completed. This includes development of the ERP, obtaining approval for the ERP, communication of the plan with provincial and district stakeholders, development of a risk-assessment tool to identify high-risk food production facilities for inspection, development of training material and checklists to support inspections of facilities, capacitation of NHLS food testing laboratories. These activities build on the response activities conducted before 9 April 2018, which include identification of the source, product recall and risk communication.

 A meeting to orient the provincial communications, environmental health and communicable disease authorities to the ERP was held on 24-25 April at NICD in Johannesburg. Agreement was reached on the role of the provinces and the next steps to implement the ERP.

 The number of cases of laboratory-confirmed listeriosis reported per week has decreased since the implicated products were recalled on 04 March 2018, with five additional cases reported this week (epidemiological week 15).

 As of 24 April 2018, a total of 1 024 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases have been reported to NICD since 01 January 2017. Since the recall 7 weeks ago, a total of 55 cases have been reported, whereas for the 7 weeks prior to the recall, 169 cases were reported. All cases that have been identified after the recall are being fully investigated.

  1. BACKGROUND

Prior to 2017, an average of 60 to 80 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases per year (approximately 1 per week), were reported in South Africa. In July 2017, an increase in laboratory-confirmed cases of listeriosis was reported to National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) which was followed by investigations into the reported increase. On 05 December 2017, the listeriosis outbreak was declared by the Minister of Health, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi. The source of the outbreak was identified as ready-to-eat processed meat products

manufactured at Enterprise Foods’ Polokwane production facility. A recall of affected products was initiated on 04 March 2018.

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Posted in food bourne outbreak, food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, listeriosis, outbreak, south africa, Uncategorized

South Africa – 50 New Cases of Listeriosis Reported Since Product Recall

Posted on April 24, 2018 by | Leave a comment

South AfricaAll Africa 

Fifty new cases of listeriosis have been reported since affected food products were recalled on March 4, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).

Eight additional cases were reported last week while one case, that occurred in October 2017, was retrospectively reported, stated the NICD’s latest report.

Marler Blog – Full Report Link

A multisectorial incident management team (IMT) has been formed by the National Department of Health (NDoH) to strengthen co-ordination of outbreak response and strengthen health systems to prevent future outbreaks. Funding is being sourced.

 The number of cases of laboratory-confirmed listeriosis reported per week has decreased since the implicated products were recalled on 04 March 2018, with eight additional cases reported this week. Of the eight cases reported this week, one case occurred in October 2017 and was retrospectively reported.

 Since the recall, a total of 50 cases have been reported

a. Twenty-four (48%) were among neonates ≤28 days old

b. Three (6%) were among children age 1 month to 14 years old

 As of 17 April 2018, a total of 1 019 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases have been reported to NICD since 01 January 2017.

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Posted in food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Testing, foodborne disease, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, listeriosis, south africa, Uncategorized

South Africa -Listeriosis: Four more killed, death toll approaches 200

Posted on April 18, 2018 by | Leave a comment

The South African

More than 16 months after this listeriosis outbreak began, the disease is still claiming lives across South Africa.

Although the amount of deaths per week is on the decline, listeriosis remains a highly dangerous threat. On 4 March, the source of the outbreak was traced back to Enterprise Foods’ Polokwane facility.

Full product recalls were issued for all ready-to-eat foods produced by both Enterprise Foods and Rainbow Chicken.

How many people has Listeriosis killed?

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) released a report over the weekend which now places the death toll at 193 – that’s four more fatalities in the last week.

The disease particularly affects elderly citizens and neo-natal infants – babies aged 28 days or less. A staggering 81 deaths attributed to this outbreak have been of newborns.

 

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Posted in Death, food bourne outbreak, food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, outbreak, south africa, Uncategorized

South Africa – NICD – now 999 with Listeria and 191 Dead

Posted on April 9, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Journal

As of 03 April 2018, a total of 999 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases has been reported to NICD since 01 January 2017 (Figure 1). Where age was reported (n=973), ages range from birth to 93 years (median 18 years) and 42% (412/973) are neonates aged ≤28 days (Figure 2). Of neonatal cases, 96%(396/412) had early-onset disease (birth to ≤6 days). Females account for 56% (542/967) of cases where gender is reported. Most cases have been reported from Gauteng Province (59%, 586/999) followed by Western Cape (12%, 123/999) and KwaZulu-Natal (7%, 72/999) provinces (Figure 3). Cases have been diagnosed in both public (64%, 644/999) and private (36%, 355/999) healthcare sectors.Listeria monocytogenes was most commonly isolated/detected on blood culture (72%, 723/999), followed by CSF (21%, 211/999). Final outcome data is available for 69% (689/999) of cases, of which 28% (191/689) died.

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Posted in Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, outbreak, south africa, Uncategorized

South Africa – ‘No Direct Link Between Deaths and Our Products’ – Tiger Brands

Posted on March 9, 2018 by | Leave a comment

All Africa

Although Tiger Brands says it detected low levels of listeriosis at its food manufacturing plant, it denied any current direct links between the deaths of 180 people from the food-borne outbreak.

“There is no direct link to the deaths and our product at the moment,” Tiger Brands CEO Lawrence MacDougall said while addressing the media at The Forum, in Bryanston, on Monday afternoon.

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Posted in Death, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, outbreak, south africa, Uncategorized

South Africa – Listeria Outbreak – Several Updates

Posted on March 6, 2018 by | Leave a comment

All Africa

Zimbabwe – Government has banned importation of cold meats into the country mainly from South Africa following an outbreak of a bacteria, Listeria, which causes food borne disease.

Newswire 24

Although Tiger Brands says it detected low levels of listeriosis at its food manufacturing plant, it denied any current direct links between the deaths of 180 people from the food-borne outbreak.

Newswire 24

Processed meat is not included in the meals served as part of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), the Department of Basic Education assured on Monday.

The department issued a statement, following Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s announcement about the source of the listeriosis outbreak.

All Africa

The Food Lover’s Market group says it has initiated an immediate nationwide recall of all Enterprise and Rainbow Chicken processed meats, following the announcement on the source of the deadly listeriosis outbreak.

All Africa

Customers of Shoprite and Checkers are invited to return any Enterprise processed cold meat products and Rainbow Chicken polony for a full refund, the group said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

The products must still be in the original packaging – even if it has been opened – and proof of purchase is not required.

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Posted in Food Poisoning, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, listeriosis, outbreak, Poisoning, south africa, Uncategorized