Cape Town - The City of Cape Town's environmental health practitioners will visit smaller outlets to establish if they are aware of the recall of Enterprise products.
Mayco member for safety, JP Smith, said City Health will also visit fast food outlets and other food traders, and will continue with its education and awareness campaign around personal hygiene, food safety and other risks to human health.
The Enterprise food production facility in Polokwane in Limpopo had been identified as the source of the current listeriosis outbreak, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Sunday. Processed food manufacturers Enterprise and Rainbow Chicken Limited (RCL) have been issued with safety recall notices.
Smith said over the past year, there have been 948 laboratory-confirmed cases of listeriosis in South Africa; and 88 of these have been reported in the Cape metro.
"The City’s environmental health practitioners will visit smaller outlets to establish if they are aware of the recall and to record volumes of product being kept on site. This information can then be used to aid the recall and ensure that the identified products are removed from the shelves. City Health will also visit fast food outlets and other food traders and will continue with its education and awareness campaign around personal hygiene, food safety and other risks to human health.
"It is important to note that most people who consume food products contaminated with listeria will not get sick and will remain asymptomatic. In those who do become ill, most will develop self-limiting fever and diarrhoea. However, persons at high risk of developing severe disease include pregnant women and their unborn babies, the elderly, persons with underlying conditions such as diabetes, cancer, chronic liver or kidney disease, and persons with weakened immune systems due to HIV or chemotherapy,"' Smith said.