South Africans bid farewell to Redro and Pecks fish paste

Source: Screenshot

In an emailed response to Bizcommunity, Pioneer Foods, which is owned by PepsiCo following a $1.7bn acquisition, said the company made the decision to discontinue production of its Redro and Pecks fish paste products towards the end of last year.

"This was part of our ongoing portfolio review. We communicated this to our customers, stopped production and discontinued the sale of related items in December 2021," commented Mandy Murphy, category manager: foods at PepsiCo sub-Saharan Africa.

Murphy added that the company is in the process of finalising the sale of the related assets/brands to a third party.

SA consumers hoping to get their hands on the last jars of Pecks and Redro in-store may need to trawl local retailers while the last remaining stock is still available on shelves.

As Business Insider South Africa reports, Peck's Anchovette, originally from the United Kingdom, dates back to 1891. It only arrived in South Africa in the 1960s, and until then, South Africans cosied up Redro, a local fish spread developed from a local family recipe in the 1930s Business Insider adds that when Pecks gained traction locally, Redro was downgraded to a more “value for money” fish paste alternative.

No mention of the history of Redro should exclude a reference to one of SA's iconic early TV commercials, the 'Redro - It's Everything You Love' ad:



Consumer sentiment on social media seems to reflect that fish paste can indeed be a divisive topic - with some people lamenting the brands' departure from shelves and others welcoming it. See some of the public reactions below:

.@PioneerFoodsSA please don’t do it! #pecks #anchovette #redro #fishpaste - I’m an addict! Last stocks…�� pic.twitter.com/PjqlPWT2Qr

— Jennie Ridyard (@JennieRidyard) January 18, 2022

Hated fish paste, good riddance. Now marmite must go https://t.co/aTE9e47VHv

— Sello (@LoloKale) January 18, 2022

Struggling to find Marmite, and now they take my fishpaste too. Filthy capitalist pigs.

— Mandy Collins (@CollinsMandy) January 18, 2022

Not joking: this has wrecked my year. I want to lie on the floor and howl. #Pecks #Anchovette #Redro is the one thing I reliably stock up on every time I go to South Africa. Hot toast, butter and fish paste is the frikkin bomb! https://t.co/UtFsKu9JUc

— Jennie Ridyard (@JennieRidyard) January 18, 2022

why both Pecks and Redro? how did that happen? what are the chances? we're not left with even one fish paste brand? my money says this is a conspiracy by Big Marmite. or Big Avo @joerogan @BanKimoon_amdg

— Anton Visser (@visseranton) January 18, 2022

I woke up feeling SO good…only to be informed that they’re discontinuing Fish Paste….I’m already over 2022 ����

— Fire-Fox (@lana_helberg) January 18, 2022

Very sad to see that Pecks Anchovette has been discontinued in SA along with Redro which will no longer be manufactured. A product that has been around since 1891https://t.co/4Vn14PO0yE

— Sam Linsell �������� (@drizzleanddip) January 18, 2022