THE Maseru City Council (MCC) has called for the immediate removal of Liqui Fruit red grape beverage from the shelves of all local retail stores, after class shards were found in the product.
business
Sept. 11, 2020
KABELO MASOABI
3 min read
Liqui Fruit juice pulled from store shelves
This was confirmed by MCC Public Relations Officer ’Makatleho Mosala on Wednesday following an announcement made the day before by the body.
The beverage in question is produced by Pioneer Fruits Product and packaged in 330ml tins/cans.
MCC said the situation poses serious health risk, requesting consumers to refrain from buying the product until further notice.
“Health inspectors at MCC have begun a campaign to ensure that all stores selling the product do not include it in the stock they vend,” MCC’s letter said.
The single unit barcode on the affected batch is 6001240225592 and is printed on the side of the can. The best before code reads “BB 01.04.2021 C TIME and BB 02.04.2021 C TIME”.
In South Africa, according to the IOL website, retailers have already removed stock of Liqui Fruit’s red grape juice from their shelves following the glass particles scare.
Premier Foods store issued a national recall of the red grape 330ml cans after the company received reports of small shards of glass in a single batch.
Shoprite said they were adhering to the recall instituted as a precaution by PepsiCo.
“The affected batches of 330ml Liqui Fruit cans have already been taken off shelf in Shoprite Group supermarkets following a recall notice received from PepsiCo Sub-Saharan Africa on Friday. We urge customers to check any Liqui Fruit red grape 330ml cans recently purchased and return any recalled product to the store where it was purchased for a refund,” Shoprite said.
Pick ’n Pay also confirmed that they have removed the affected products.
Acting consumer commissioner Thezi Mabuza said while the commission has not received a full notification in terms of the product safety recall guidelines, Pioneer Foods is still conducting an investigation.
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MCC public relations manager 'Makatleho Mosala
“The information we have is that glass particles were found in the product and this poses a health risk to consumers. We urge consumers who bought this product to stop consuming it immediately and return it to the retailer of purchase for a full refund,” said Mabuza.
On its Facebook page three days ago, Pioneer Foods said: “We have received reports of three consumers finding small pieces of glass in our Liqui Fruit Red Grape 330ml cans. The investigation as to the root cause and extent of the issue is underway. As a precautionary measure we are recalling the specific manufacturing batches of Liqui Fruit red grape 330ml cans from the market. The majority of this stock is still in warehouses and has not yet been purchased by consumers, however, as concern for the welfare of our consumers is paramount, we are taking all possible steps to recover this stock quickly.”
The retailer further showed, “An investigation is under way but as a precaution, this is a potential food safety issue, so if you have purchased any of the products, do not consume the product. All other Liqui Fruit product codes are unaffected and do not need to be returned”.
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