Johannesburg - Neighbouring countries have taken extreme measures to stop the import of processed cold meat products from South Africa.
Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique have since announced that they would increase measures at their boarders to halt the import of cold meat products from South Africa following the Listeriosis outbreak that has killed 180 people.
Increasing anxiety levels is the announcement by the World Health Organisation on Monday that the outbreak of Listeriosis is the largest ever recorded.
On Sunday the health department announced that the source of the Listeriosis had been traced to Enterprise Foods, a company owned by Tiger Brands. Another source of the outbreak has been traced to Rainbow Chicken food products.
It took the department and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) six months to trace the origins of the outbreak.
The strain has been linked specifically to polony, but other cold meat products are at risk for cross contamination and that is why all cold meat products have been recalled.
The department also said consumers should return their cold products to the stores or burn them as a safety measure.
Retailors such as Woolworths, Checkers and Pick n Pay have asked customers to return their purchased products.
Although Tiger Brands has been named as source of the outbreak, the company has refused to take responsibility.
The CEO Lawrence MacDougall said he could not apologies for the death of 180 people because there is no proof that the strain of Listeriosis is linked to Enterprise products.
This is despite the health department and NICD confirming that the particular strain was traced back to Enterprises’ Polokwane plant.