Listeriosis Hysteria in South Africa

A short while ago I wrote a post about the listeriosis outbreak in South Africa. The news broke on the weekend about which companies were identified as the source of the outbreak. There has been some pretty hysterical reporting in the media, and I wonder if we are are going a little too far in zealously cleaning out multiple food products, or do we need to baby the majority of the population?

As guessed, two major brands, Enterprise and Rainbow chicken have been identified as the source of the listeriosis outbreak, which has been the worst in worldwide history, and has resulted in 180 deaths since late last year. Both these brands cater both to lower and higher income groups, which explains the pattern of infections. Today, the supermarkets are in a frenzy of cleaning out their fridges of all traces of these products, and are going as far as to cease sales of all deli meat. People are turning up at supermarkets with the identified products for refunds.

Yesterday I was feeling pretty lazy, and not up to cooking the whole traditional Sunday meal, so I had decided to have hot dogs, especially since I had found my favourite viennas (hotdogs) at a cut price. Mmmm, did the supermarkets have forewarning of the "breaking" news??? Just before I was about to cook, I read the news, and my viennas were the brand identified. What did I do? Not panic, that's what.

Listeria is killed by heat. I opened the vienna packages carefully, not spilling the little bit of liquid in them, and transferred them into a pot of boiling water, and made sure they boiled properly. I disposed of the packaging, and cleaned the area where I opened the packages thoroughly. The main cause of listeria infection is poor hygiene. Clearly this has occurred somewhere in the supply chain, but listeria needs additional poor hygiene to spread. If cooking surfaces are not wiped down carefully after preparing raw foods, contamination and illness is a real possibility.

http://bhekisisa.org/article/2018-03-04-00-case-closed-listeria-outbreak-was-caused-by-enterprise-polony-says-motsoaledi

While I fully support the recall of all cold meats for the moment, especially polony, I do worry about the cost of the massive recalls to our already economically struggling country and citizens. I am also disturbed by the food wastage. The media has done a good job of warning people of the danger lurking in their favourite brands, all my staff were aware of the issue when I got to work this morning, which shows me media education works. It seems there should be educational campaigns about correct and safe food preparation.

pixabay

I cook for up to 9 people daily, and have gone through periods of financial struggles. Food is expensive, and I am disgusted, but not surprised by big companies taking hygiene shortcuts. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and those people who have suffered losses due to death and severe illness should be compensated. I also think people should think for themselves and not panic blindly, but maybe I am wrong, and all those tonnes of food should be incinerated? What do you think? Food is about to become a LOT more expensive in SA shortly. 

@onetree