Listeriosis outbreak ‘forcing pig producers into financial suicide’
The People First Piggery in the mining city of Rustenburg used to slaughter 150 pigs each month. It’s now down to zero. Three months after SA linked products from a factory owned by Tiger Brands, the country’s biggest food producer, to the world’s deadliest known listeriosis outbreak, pressure is building on pig farmers. The industry has cut at least 2,000 jobs, pork prices dropped to four-year lows and small farmers are at risk of closing down, industry groups say. The People First co-operative, which buys piglets from larger piggeries and supplies local butcheries, doesn’t have any livestock left after co-owner Petrus Lepota decided against restocking because he was losing money by selling at current prices. He’s had to cut staff and is wary of predicting when things might improve. "We can’t speculate," Lepota said. "Ours is to pray." Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said on March 4 that an outbreak of listeriosis that has now killed at least 208 people since the start of 2017 and...
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