JOHANNESBURG - Tiger Brands managed to recover slightly on Tuesday morning following concerns of reputational damage after one of their factories was linked to carrying the deadly listeriosis virus.
Tiger Brands closed 7.44 percent lower at R393.38 a share on the JSE yesterday but this morning at 09:42am, the share price showed some recovery, trading at R398.97, up by 0.68%.
Neighbouring countries including Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia yesterday announced a ban on all cold meats from South Africa following the listeriosis outbreak. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on Sunday that the source of the listeriosis was polony and other processed meat products from Tiger Brands’ Enterprise Foods factory in Polokwane.
Also read: Brazil's 'white slime' may have caused #ListeriosisOutbreak
Tiger Brands recalled the processed meat products and also suspended its Germiston factory, while retailers, including Pick * Pay, Shoprite and Spar also removed the products from their shelves.
Tiger Brands chief executive Lawrence MacDougall told journalists yesterday that the company was devastated about the outbreak, but took no responsibility for the deaths.
“It is devastating that our products have been linked to this disease. We are leaving no stone unturned; we have brought in independent experts to get to the bottom of this,” MacDougall said. “There have been no direct links to any of the deaths from our products.”
Have you read: Listeriosis outbreak - What customers should do now!
RCL Foods' Wolwehoek factory in Sasolburg also tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, but the specific strain of pathogen responsible for the outbreak had not been linked to the facility.
RCL closed 0.52% lower at R17.11 after it recalled its Rainbow branded polony products yesterday, but also showed some improvement as it traded at 1.3% stronger at R17.34 at 09:41am.