Minister ‘happy’ about listeriosis lawsuit

HEALTH Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said he was happy that a class-action lawsuit was being brought against Tiger Brands’ Enterprise Foods on behalf of all victims of the deadly listeria bacteria in South Africa.

Motsoaledi said although penalties were imposed on companies by the authorities, they did not help affected families in any way.

“I am happy there is a company from the US that is taking up this matter. We welcome that. Such lawsuits have happened in America many times, where listeria outbreaks happen almost every year,” he said.

Human rights lawyer Richard Spoor announced this week that he was teaming up with US food safety law firm Marler Clark to launch lawsuits on behalf of the victims’ families.

Spoor is known for his work on workers’ rights and safety, especially his class-action lawsuit against mine companies on behalf of the victims of silicosis.

The EFF also announced last week that its lawyers would file class-action lawsuits on behalf of families who lost their loved ones to listeria.

Motsoaledi said disposing of the food products was not the end of combating listeria. He added that a national emergency centre was being established at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases premises to deal with possible new listeria infections.

Motsoaledi’s comments came as member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) committed themselves to enhancing public awareness and food control systems to contain the deadly outbreak.

These measures includes combating possible smuggling of products from South Africa to neighbouring countries through borders. Border policing and the Department of Home Affairs would have to be on the alert, Motsoaledi said.

The 15 countries’ health ministers and ambassadors met in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, to come up with measures to combat listeria, which has so far claimed 183 lives in South Africa. Namibia is only the second SADC country after South Africa to have a case of listeria after a 41-year-old man was diagnosed with the disease this week.

He was being treated at a hospital in the capital, Windhoek.

The patient’s blood samples were sent from Windhoek to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg for testing, after which it was confirmed that the Namibian male patient had contracted listeriosis, said Motsoaledi.

Following the tracing of the listeriosis source, the National Consumer Council met with Enterprise and Rainbow product producers and asked them for information regarding their distribution network and export countries, said Motsoaledi.

Although the remaining 13 countries said there had not been any reported cases of listeria in their respective countries, there could be such cases as it was not easy to detect the bacteria. –