Enterprise Foods Shuts Down Polokwane Plant Permanently Years After Listeriosis Outbreak
- Enterprise Foods in Polokwane shut down its factory permanently after it was unable to recover from the listeriosis outbreak in 2017
- About 50 of its employees will be moved to its canning sector in Country Bird Holdings that owns Enterprise
- The CEO of Country Bird Holdings Brendon De Boer said it was an extremely difficult decision to close the plant
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LIMPOPO - An Enterprise Foods plant which manufactured items such as polony and viennas in Polokwane has shut its doors permanently. The food factory struggled to fill the void since 2017 after the listeriosis outbreak at its plants in Polokwane and Germiston.
About 50 of its employees will be moved to its canning sector according to the parent company of Enterprise, Country Bird Holdings.
Source: Getty Images
The CEO of Country Bird Holdings Brendon De Boer said the decision to close the plant was extremely difficult. He said if the company could prevent closure it would have, SABC News reported. Hundreds of employees who were affiliated with labour unions were given retrenchment notices.
The Secretary of the National Union of Public Service and Allied workers Limpopo claims that Enterprise took the matter to the CCMA for a settlement, however, the union cannot afford the agreement the company wants. It is unclear how the closure will affect the company’s retail store.
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The Supreme Court of Appeal recently ruled against Tiger Brands after the company was responsible for the deadly outbreak of listeriosis.
According to Business Insider South Africa, The National Institute for Communicable Diseases detected 200 people deaths from the listeriosis outbreak.
SA Government's failure to complete paperwork means products linked to listeriosis still banned in Rwanda
Briefly News previously reported although the origin of the listeriosis outbreak which began six months ago has been traced Rwanda is still not prepared to import South African fresh produce. This is because the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries (DAFF) has not completed the necessary paperwork and has nothing to do with the quality of South Africa produce.
Fruit, dairy products and meat have been banned in Rwanda since December when news broke of the listeriosis outbreak.
Rwandan hotels import an estimated 2.4 tonnes of beef from South Africa each month as well as 60 tonnes of fruit per year. Scientists have proven that the outbreak was not linked to fresh produce but despite this, the ban has not been lifted. This is because DAFF has not shared this information with Rwanda officially.
Source: Briefly News
