So long, vienna

Several towns have responded swiftly to the outbreak of listeriosis in neighbouring South Africa and now Namibia. The bacterial contamination, which has been traced to processed meats, was first reported in South Africa in January and has claimed 180 lives there.In Namibia, a man from Tsumeb was hospitalised after being diagnosed with the disease last week. The local case was reported after a directive had been issued by the health and agriculture ministries, ordering shops to remove meat products from Enterprise Foods in South Africa from their shelves.South African authorities had pinpointed a processing plant of Enterprise Foods, a division of Tiger Brands, as the source of the Listeria contamination. The Swakopmund municipality's general manager of health services, Clive Lawrence, said the town's health inspectors had informed him that most of the products had been removed.“I cannot guarantee that everything was removed. We received another directive that canned food is not affected, just the pre-packed fresh produce,” said Lawrence. Kornelius Kapolo, the manager of public health and environment of the Oshakati town council, said they had started removing implicated products a week ago already, before the directive was issued. According to him, some business people took the initiative to remove the products from their shelves when the disease broke out in South Africa. “However, there was a bit of confusion about the canned products but it was sorted out. Actually, not a lot of our shops are supplied by local businesses such as the street vendors who buy locally,” he said. The health inspector at the Keetmanshoop municipality, Rudo-whan Benade, said all major retailers that import from South African suppliers were informed of the directive. He could not comment on how they dealt with smaller shops and street vendors. Minister of health Dr Bernard Haufiku told the National Assembly this week that the ministry was prepared for an outbreak of the disease, as surveillance measures were activated in January already and would be stepped up.JEMIMA BEUKES

So long, vienna

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Namibian Sun 2025-08-15

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So long, vienna

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Namibian Sun 2025-08-15

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