Pilchards Suspended From South African Schools’ Menu

The Basic Education Department (DBE) has suspended with immediate effect the serving of canned pilchards as part of the national school nutrition menu across all schools in the country.

The decision follows a recent order by the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications that all formal wholesalers, retailers and informal traders remove and stop selling the 400g Pilchards in Tomato Sauce and 400g Pilchards in Chili Sauce with immediate effect.

“This follows the outcome of the NRCS investigation which revealed a deficiency in the canning process.”

All provinces have been instructed to tell their suppliers to stop supplying these products as part of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP).

The canned fish is a common item consumed in all schools which offer the NSNP to more than 9.2 million learners every school day.

The department advised provinces to replace pilchards with other sources of protein for now.

The affected products bear the markings starting with ZST29 and ZSC29 on top of the cans.

The affected products were manufactured in 2019 by West Point Processors, based in Cape Town, and have been distributed nationally to various retailers across the country.

Pilchards Product brands affected and that are being recalled in South Africa are:

• Deep Catch

• Mammas

• OK Housebrand

• Prime Ocean

• Spar

• Sunny

• Shoprite Ritebrand

• Cape Point

• Checkers Housebrand

• U Brand

• Saldanha

• West Point

Consumers, who have purchased the products, are urged to check the code. If it starts with ZST29 or ZSC29, they must return it for a full refund

Source: SAnews.gov.za