The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says it still needs to confirm if a product taken off the shelves by Shoprite was indeed contaminated with listeria bacteria.
The Institute yesterday confirmed that the retail giant had recalled some of its products as a precautionary measure in the light of the ongoing listeriosis outbreak in the country.
Shoprite says the listeria bacteria was found in a single batch of red viennas but it is not the lST6 strain that is linked to processed meat products manufactured by Enterprise foods.
Almost a thousand cases of listeriosis have been confirmed in the country since last year with 183 deaths reported.
The NICD’s Dr Juno Thomas says Shoprite have conducted their own testing on certain products in their stores.
He says: “As a precaution they have recalled one brand of those manufactured from them. Apparently listeria was isolated from some samples but this has still to be confirmed at the NCID. We are waiting for specimen from the laboratory that did the testing and we will confirm it.”
