(Bloomberg) -- Tiger Brands Ltd., the food company that’s been identified as a source of the biggest food poisoning outbreak in modern South African history, said it has almost completed a recall of its ready-to-eat meat products after an outbreak of a bacterial disease known as listeriosis.
The company has recovered about 3,700 tons of meat from across the country, about 90 percent of the expected total, and needs to complete the process by the end of the month, spokeswoman Nevashnee Naicker said by phone. The products will then be incinerated as the company moves to end the world’s biggest ever outbreak of the disease.
Africa’s largest packaged-food maker was ordered earlier this month to recall certain Enterprise brand items. It expanded the recall to all chilled ready-to-eat processed meat products and has suspended operations at two plants, including the one where the ST6 strain -- identified as the driver of the outbreak -- has been found. Listeriosis has killed at least 183 people and infected about 1,000 in South Africa since the start of 2017.
The company is waiting for DNA testing results from a sample showing a low level of listeria in some product, Naicker said. Tiger Brands is also conducting a deep cleaning of both its Polokwane and Germiston facilities, she said.
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