Johannesburg - The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has urged the Department of Basic Education to ensure that food sold to pupils does not contain ingredients such as polony, after the announcement on Sunday of the source of the listeriosis outbreak.
Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said the recent outbreak of the deadly Listeria bacteria had been traced to Enterprise's Polokwane facility, which manufactures products such as polony.
READ No polony: Everything we know so far about the listeriosis outbreak
"We further call on school governing bodies as well as learner representative councils to impose strict controls on what gets sold in school yards and nearby shops to students," the EFF's Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said.
"We cannot afford to lose any life; this is a generation that has liberated our land, it must live long enough to see its true benefits."
READ: Enterprise Foods to recall affected products, but conducting own listeriosis tests
Ndlozi said the "blame must be placed squarely" at the feet of Enterprise Food and Rainbow Chicken after Motsoaledi said the outbreak had been narrowed down to those facilities.
"They must be held accountable for spreading disease and killing people," Ndlozi said.
The South African outbreak of listeriosis has claimed 180 lives and was successfully traced after several children presented with gastroenteritis.
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