LISTEN: Listeria outbreak comes to an end
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) have confirmed that the deadly listeriosis outbreak is now a thing of the past.
The announcement was made at the NICD on Monday.
The outbreak resulted in more than 200 deaths.
"No cases of listeria due to the outbreak strain have been identified since the first week of June 2018. This means for the past three months no new case of listeria of the outbreak strain has been identified and over the last two months the incident rate of laboratory-confirmed listeria cases has dropped to the pre-outbreak levels" said Motsoaledi.
He said people are now able to eat processed meats, including polony, again..
The outbreak strain was traced to Tiger Brands' Enterprise factory in Polokwane.
"We have put in place a surveillance system to find and test all listeria isolates from human cases to identify clusters that may represent outbreaks. Early investigation of groups of cases will detect outbreaks and identity affected food early. Food safety laws have also been updated and all factories that make ready to eat processed meat and chicken need safety management systems in place which are according to regulation."
Consumers have been advised to be cautious as the end of the outbreak does not mean listeriosis is completely eradicated.
Investigations have not been able to determine how the strain reached the factory, he described the process as looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Just because we don't know how it came about does not exclude issues of accountability. There are discussions going on about possible litigation that will be determined by the courts of law, not us. But you know that there have already been teams of lawyers who've had discussions with Tiger Brands, we will leave it to the courts" he concluded.