Woolies recalls frozen rice over Listeria fears

Woolworths said on Tuesday it has issued a recall of its frozen savoury rice mix product which contains sweetcorn imported from a factory  suspected of being the source of a Listeria outbreak in Europe.

The product is sourced from Belgium and contains frozen sweetcorn from the Greenyard Factory in Hungary. The retailer said the precautionary recall came after a worldwide recall issued by the Hungarian Food Safety Agency. 

"This Greenyard Factory has been implicated as the potential source of a Listeria outbreak in Europe,” Woolworths said in a statement.

“The Frozen Savoury Rice Mix product is uncooked and frozen and so requires cooking before consumption.”

Listeria bacteria are easily destroyed by cooking.

Woolworths said no other frozen sweetcorn or vegetable products were affected.

“We are voluntarily recalling this product as a precautionary measure, on the global instruction of the Hungarian Food Safety Agency,” it said.

Customers who have purchased the product were advised to return the product for a full refund.

South Africa was early this year hit by a Listeria outbreak that killed over 200 people. The World Health organisation described the outbreak as the largest ever seen.

The outbreak led to a mass recall of processed meat products and polony.  Its source was traced to a factory owned by Tiger Brands unit, Enterprise.