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Kenya bans ready-to-eat meat products from South Africa


The Ministry of Health has stopped importation of ready to eat meat products from South Africa.

The ministry has also ordered for the recall of the meat products already in the market following an outbreak of listeria in South Africa.

Listeriosis is food poisoning caused by eating foods contaminated with the Listeria bacteria. Symptoms include high temperature, flu-like symptoms, vomiting and diarrhoea

Products affected include South African polony loaf, sausages and smoked viennas.

In a notice to all public health officers, the director of Public Health Kepha Ombacho ordered that the products already in the Kenyan market be recalled.

“In order to ensure that the health of the public is protected and as a precautionary measure, you are required to stop the importation and sale of these products in the market while at the same time recall those that are already in the market.

“This information should be shared with all retail outlets so that they do not place the products on the shelves for sale,” he wrote.

The notice particularly mentioned products by Enterprise Food Production Company and Rainbow Chicken Limited.

South African health minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced that the food manufacturers’ plants were the source of the current listeria outbreak.

The country has documented the world’s biggest listeriosis outbreak‚ with 948 confirmed cases and 180 deaths according to the latest statistics from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Johannesburg.