Fin24 reports that Dawie Maree, head of marketing and information at FNB Business Agriculture, said on Monday that the outbreak and subsequent spreading of listeriosis contamination from certain meat processing plants in SA would likely not lead to job losses in the short term.  

"At a manufacturing plant most of the jobs are probably permanent and the company should have business contingency plans.  In the short term, workers might not go to work, but will probably still receive pay.  Companies usually also have insurance for this kind of outbreak," he indicated.  Maree went on to say that he did not think that factories would close altogether.  “They will probably sterilise the processing facility, keep it under observation, slowly start production again and monitor it."  On the other hand, the huge recall of different products would likely have an impact on the profits of the specific companies involved, but the impact would not be negative in the long term.  As most of these companies were reputable, “they will win the consumers' trust back.”  Wessel Lemmer, senior agricultural economist at Absa, said that if locating the sources of infection was successful and it was dealt with efficiently, the impact on the food industry should be limited.

• Read this report by Carin Smith in full at Fin24
• See too, Enterprise factory workers sent home amid listeriosis fallout, at News24

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