Home » Alleged victims of a listeriosis outbreak say South Africa’s Tiger Brands must ‘do the right thing’

Alleged victims of a listeriosis outbreak say South Africa’s Tiger Brands must ‘do the right thing’

by John Ellis
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Theto Ngobeni was just 18 days old when doctors first inserted a shunt into the back of her head to drain excess fluid accumulating in her brain. She was born with hydrocephalus, a condition caused by a listeriosis infection her mother contracted while pregnant.

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Now seven, Theto has already had six operations to replace her shunt due to infections and blockages. Her family’s medical insurance cover has been depleted, forcing them to sell their house to cover mounting debts. Her mother, Montlha, is one of more than 1,000 people infected in South Africa between January 2017 and mid-2018 in what the World Health Organization declared the world’s largest ever listeriosis outbreak.

The outbreak was linked to ready-to-eat meats, mainly polony, produced at an Enterprise Foods facility then owned by Tiger Brands, the country’s biggest food producer. The contaminated products had likely been manufactured and sold for more than a year by that point.

Almost seven years on, a class action lawsuit brought against Tiger Brands on behalf of Montlha and more than 1,000 other plaintiffs has yet to be resolved, despite evidence gathered by local health officials tying the outbreak to the Enterprise Foods plant and products. The lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs “contracted listeriosis and suffered harm” after eating contaminated products produced by Tiger Brands, allegations the company denies.

Tiger Brands maintains that “liability has not yet been determined.” However, according to Thami Malusi, a senior associate at Richard Spoor Incorporated Attorneys, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, the case could finally go to trial this year. He told CNN that settlement discussions were “progressing well,” but noted that RSI was continuing to prepare for trial.

The case made by RSI relies heavily on specialized genetic testing done by South Africa’s CDC equivalent, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). Known as whole genome sequencing, it matched the same strain of listeria found in the Enterprise Foods Polokwane plant and products to the strain found in the majority of people who were sickened.

Montlha is desperate for Tiger Brands to “do the right thing” and provide compensation to the victims of the outbreak. “Our innocent kids are struggling for something they did not eat. (Tiger Brands) owes us an apology and then compensation,” she added.

Nthabiseng Ramanamane, another of the claimants in the class action, contracted listeriosis while pregnant, allegedly after eating polony manufactured by the company. Her son, Onkarabile, was born more than two months premature with cerebral palsy. “I’d like to ask Tiger Brands to take accountability and show remorse to the people who are affected by their negligence,” she told CNN.

The victims of the outbreak are still waiting for justice and compensation.

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