Families set the benchmark for quality products

I CANNOT imagine an Indian household without jam tomatoes and cooking oil. Thank you POST for highlighting the acute shortages in the April 21-25 edition.

The tomato shortage is attributed to inclement weather affecting crops and resulting in poor yields.

The shortage of Helios oil is due to a shortage, possibly spurred by shipping delays of imported crude sunflower oil. Helios is made up of 100% sunflower oil, filled with omega 6 and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Just a month ago, good quality jam tomatoes were sold for R20 for 3kg. Now you will not get a kilogram for that price. When tomatoes are in abundance, clever housewives are known to buy in bulk, liquidise them and pour the purée into ice cube trays. They pop these cubes into a pot when they are cooking.

A sunny climate and moderate rainfall are perfect conditions for growing tomatoes. South Africa is one of the few countries that can produce tomatoes throughout the year and about 80% of the annual crop is consumed locally. Processed and canned tomato products have never gone down too well with Indian housewives but, of course, the kitchen dynamics have changed with new generations.

I remember the original 5-litre Helios oil in tin gallons without caps (around the 1970s). This was when we had to use a tin-opener to cut open the gallon and use a funnel to decant the oil. Then came gallons with caps. Smaller quantities came in glass bottles. Then in the later years, the packaging revolutionised to plastic bottles – as is at present.

It would be a travesty if I did not mention the resilience and tenacious business acumen of two KwaZulu-Natal families who entered the edible oil industry in the early 1970s. They set the benchmark for quality products that are still produced today.

Helios is the flagship brand leader of Unity Food Products. It was started by the Essack family in Durban in 1971 when they opened Sealake Industries with a candle plant and launched the brand, Sunbrite.

When a fire destroyed their plant in 1979, they relocated to Pietermaritzburg where in the 1980s they commissioned a crushing plant and oil refinery from Asia and began producing cooking oil.

In 2002, Baboo Essack, the chief executive of Sealake Industries, formed Unity Food Products. In 2010, they diversified into the margarine market and have brands like Ruby, Helios and Golden Lite. Today, they also market a range of canned products.

Another family, the Moosas, were also making headway in the market in Pietermaritzburg. DH Moosa formed Willowton Oil & Cake Mills in 1970 with his brothers, Amod and Mohamed. In 1976 they also suffered a similar fate – a fire.

In 1989, they branched into the margarine category and launched the Romi brand. With modern technology and a state-of-the-art refinery, they started swallowing up opposition, first taking over Epic Oil and then buying out Tiger Brands Cape Oil & Margarine in 2004. Today, as the prestigious Willowton Group, the business unit has diversified into pre-packing rice and maize products.

These groups, from humble beginnings, engage in massive social responsibility campaigns. They live the epitome of the adage: all you have means nothing if you don't know how to give some of it away. Their brands are stocked by every retail giant in South Africa.

So 50 years after we used our empty Helios gallons to make guitars as kids, we strum into the autumn of our lives while Helios stands firm and strong on supermarket shelves – the essential ingredient to a tongue-salivating gravy in any curry.

KEVIN GOVENDER

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