Ready-to-eat meat market blow

NDAMA NAKASHOLE

It is a weekday morning, but it’s not business as usual. Just like those who work in formal markets, those in the informal sector are getting ready for the workday. Food vendors prepare their wares; some have already set up their stands and wait for customers. It all seems normal.

One of those trading at Monte Cristo centre in Windhoek’s Katutura suburb is Olivia Namundo. A single mother, Namundo sells one of the most popular take-aways in Namibia: russians and chips. According to the 2016 Labour Force Survey (LFS) report by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) released last year, 48.4% of the 164 000 vulnerable employees are own-account workers. Namundo is one of them.

Business has been “fair” according to her. Despite stiff competition as she sits next to six others selling the same wares, she says profits, although small, have been flowing in.

Despite the economic slowdown, which has led to job losses and consumers tightening their belts, Namundo said she would still sell chips and russians every day, maybe just a bit less.

That was until the recent news of a listeriosis outbreak, which is caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, in neighbouring South Africa (SA).

The SA health department said about two weeks ago that the bacterial contamination had been traced to an Enterprise Foods meat processing plant. The announcement prompted a recall of Enterprise polony, viennas, russians and other meat products in South Africa as well as Namibia.

Despite immediate directives by the government for shops to remove these products from their shelves, a man at Tsumeb last week became Namibia’s first confirmed case of listeriosis. The illness has killed 180 people and infected over 1 000 in SA, according to local and international media.

Fear of the illness has made people wary of all ready-to-eat meats.

“Look at those russians in there. I warmed them yesterday morning already and they are still there as I did not sell a single russian,” Namundo said while peeling potatoes. The chips were made fresh that morning, she said.

“Things have been tough lately. But I always sold the few russians I would prepare,” she said, adding that she had reduced the quantity of sausages she prepared every day when the “struggle for customers began last year”.

According to her, none of her children and those under her guardianship has a job. Some are studying at tertiary institutions and need taxi money every day. If her customers stay away, “it is just hunger” for her family.

Listeriosis free

On 14 March, Windhoek Schlachterei announced that its machinery and products had been tested and declared free of listeria.

Other local producers of ready-to-eat meat products such as Meatco and Readi Bites also said their products were safe.

The owner of Readi Bites, John Hayes, emphasised that all their products were produced locally. They were tested at a private laboratory and found to be listeria free.

“Even our suppliers sent confirmations of no presence of that bacterium,” he said, adding that on Monday, they had a meeting with municipal health inspectors who also took some samples.

Business Unusual

Hayes told Market Watch that following the listeriosis outbreak in SA in January, customers continued buying as usual. That all changed last week, when the first case of listeriosis was reported in Namibia. Last Tuesday, health minister Bernard Haufiku announced in parliament that a 41-year-old man had been diagnosed with listeriosis after eating a russian bought at a Tsumeb butchery.

“It is really a big blow to the business. People are now staying away from all the processed products and business is affected,” Hayes said.