Zimbabwe has become the latest country to tighten its borders following the outbreak of the deadly Listeria disease detected in meats sold in South Africa.
Zimbabwe has now banned the importation of cold meat from South Africa to prevent the spread of the disease into the Southern African country.
Mozambique and Namibia have already announced that they were suspending imports of the products with Botswana saying it was recalling the items “with immediate effect”.
Zambia has also called on South African retail chains in it the country to pull the said cold meat from local shelves.
South Africans were told on Sunday not to consume ready-to-eat processed meat as the government identified the source of a listeria outbreak that has killed 180 people as a cold meat product made by the country’s biggest consumer foods group.
The meat, known as“polony”, made by Tiger Brands unit Enterprise Food and by RCL Foods, would be recalled from stores, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said.
The AFP reported that since January 2017, 948 people in South Africa have contracted listeriosis – a disease caused by bacteria from soil, water, vegetation and animal faeces which can contaminate fresh food, notably meat.
Health officials said the source of the outbreak was an Enterprise Food plant in Polokwane.
Source: Africafeeds.com
