Voice note warning on listeria refuted by retailers
RETAILERS have asked shoppers not to panic over a WhatsApp voice note doing the rounds which claims supermarket house brands are also contaminated with listeria.
The unidentified man on the voice note, which has gone viral, seems to be a shop owner.
He claims one of his customers – a butchery manager – said he (the butcher) believed since the listeria strand had been identified in Enterprise products, the company would collapse.
The voice message goes on to warn: “If you’re going to Pick n Pay or Shoprite/Checkers or wherever and they have no Enterprise polony or viennas on their shelves, that is all cool, but don’t go and grab their home brands because they have used the same stuff to make their home brands.
“No matter what you are buying in that range, you are bound to get poisoned by it so stay away from anything [even] your SPAR brands, it all comes from Enterprise.”
SPAR marketing director Abri Swart slammed these claims.
“We wish to assure our customers that SPAR house brand products such as polony, viennas and sliced meats are not made by Enterprise.
“All ingredients in our products have undergone stringent testing and been quality approved. This voice recording is untrue and the person speaking is misinformed,” Swart said.
Pick n Pay’s David North said their No Name brand was not made by Enterprise.
“Following the minister’s announcement, we immediately withdrew all ready-to-eat products manufactured by Enterprise and Rainbow and a small number of deli products manufactured by Enterprise and Rainbow were also withdrawn.
“No packaged Pick n Pay or No Name brand ready-to-eat products were affected.
“All our butchery, deli areas and fridges have been sanitised following the recall to avoid any risk of cross-contamination.
“All recalled stock is packed into sealed plastic bags, and placed in an isolated and refrigerated area to be collected for destruction.”
Sixth Avenue Checkers managers referred The Herald to the head office, which could not be reached for comment.