What is in ready-to-eat meats?
For many South Africans polony has been a food of choice, particularly when it comes to lunch box ideas. Not only is this cold meat affordable, but it is considered as a convenient and versatile ready-to-eat source of protein.
But this week polony has been a source of controversy and probably the most-talked about food item after it was linked to a deadly disease, listeriosis.
So far about 180 South Africans have since died and almost 1000 infected, following the outbreak of listeriosis since January last year.
This week the nation went into a “panic mode” after the Minister of Health, Aaron Motsoaledi, announced that Enterprise Polokwane factory plant, which makes Enterprise polony and Rainbow chicken polony, was identified as a source of the listeria (listeriosis-causing bacteria).
More than 16 environmental samples from the factory tested positive for the listeriosis monocytogenes strain ST 6. The results from the factory were confirmed at midnight on Saturday at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases as the strain to blame for the outbreak that killed 27% of patients in South Africa.This resulted in Motsoaledi calling for the avoidance of all ready-to-eat processed meat products.
Source: iol.co.za