South Africa’s biggest food manufacturer, Tiger Brands is recalling almost 20 million canned vegetable products under the KOO and Hugo food brands. This follows the detection of a defective side seam in an “extremely small number” of canned goods produced between 1 May 2019 to 5 May 2021.
Tiger Brands said it decided to institute the recall after consultations with the National Consumer Council (NCC).
The cost of recalling will be deep for the food maker, in a year already marked by trading difficulties due to Covid-19. The firm has already said it lost around R150-million worth of stock due to looting and vandalism that hit its KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng operations two weeks ago.
“The financial impact of the recall, including the cost of the potentially affected stock that may be written off, transport and storage costs, as well as the loss of margin on the returned stock, is estimated at between R500-million and R650-million,” said Tiger Brands.
If you have KOO and Hugo canned vegetable products at home that were produced from 1 May 2019 to 5 May 2021 and that form part of the recall, you can return the canned products to your nearest supermarket or wholesale outlet for a refund.
No health issues have been reported to date relating to the affected product range. Although there is a low probability of illness and injury, matters of quality and food safety are an absolute priority for Tiger Brands.
KOO canned fruit and KOO canned pilchards are not affected.
Use these steps to identify the affected product:
1: Check if manufactured from 1 MAY 2019 TO 5 MAY 2021.
2: Return affected product to store and get a refund.
3: To see the list of products that are affected, visit https://t.co/ZEpFq0vMZY or call us on 086 010 0891.
— Tiger Brands (@TigerBrands) July 26, 2021