Pioneer Foods recalls batches of Safari nuts and raisin products

The food and beverage company explained that routine testing at the Safari production site in KwaZulu-Natal identified a batch of products that tested positive for low levels of salmonella typhimurium (“salmonella”).

Based on safety protocols, production was immediately halted, the product was placed on hold and ringfenced. The production site was then deep-cleaned, and vector sampling completed, the company said.

Affected products

On 17 November 2021, a limited number of cases of Safari 60 g Peanuts & Raisins (Best Before: 27/10/2022) and Safari 100 g Raw Cashews (Best Before: 27/6/2022) were released to the trade, despite having been isolated and ringfenced for destruction. These are the only SKUs that have been affected.

“This limited number of affected products should never have been released into trade, and whilst we have not received any health-related complaints from consumers to date, we have decided to proceed to proactively recall these specific products,” said Tertius Carstens, Pioneer Foods CEO.

Pioneer Foods managed to retrieve 92% of the impacted product by Monday morning.

Only the following Safari Peanuts & Raisins and Raw Cashew nuts products, with the relevant batch and production codes, distributed inside South Africa, Botswana and Namibia are affected.

Safari Peanuts & Raisins, 60 g

Date coding: BB 27/ 10/2022
Countries: South Africa and Namibia

Cashews Raw, 100 g

Date coding: BB 27/6/2022
Countries: South Africa and Botswana

All other Safari products remain safe for consumption.

"We have already engaged with the South African National Consumer Commission as well as the South African Department of Health," Pioneer Foods said.

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Consumers who have the products listed above, with the specific batch or date coding, are urged to return these products to the retailer from which they were purchased in order to receive a full refund.

Pioneer Foods was also one of the companies that recalled certain apple juice products in October after it was found that apple juice concentrate supplied to Pioneer Foods contained elevated levels of patulin.