17 March 2024
Imported peanut butter that hasn’t undergone the necessary safety tests is not only dangerous for consumers but also harms the local groundnut industry, says Alfonso Visser.
Visser, owner of SA Peanuts, the largest local processor of raw groundnuts and supplier to brands such as Black Cat, Yum-Yum and Simba, says for the past three years the local industry has been asking for an investigation into the safety of imported peanut butter.
“Our ports don’t have the necessary facilities to test it. Raw groundnuts are tested but the 200-litre cans and drums in which peanut butter is imported are not tested.”
According to him, this appears to be one of the main reasons why five brands of peanut butter and products containing peanut butter have been withdrawn from the market due to higher than permissible levels of aflatoxins.
Aflatoxins are a collection of toxins produced by a fungus found on, among other things, groundnuts, maize, cottonseed and tree nuts.
Since February 3, peanut butter from Pick n Pay, Dischem, Wazoogles, Eat Naked and Clover, as well as Woolworths’ peanut butter ice cream, has been withdrawn.
The National Consumer Commission has decided to launch an investigation into the issue.
According to Visser, the local industry has been requesting a levy on imported peanut butter for years because it poses a threat to the local industry. “Not because they produce it cheaper but because it is manufactured in facilities that do not meet the necessary safety measures.
“That peanut butter then ends up on our shelves at R10 or R5 cheaper than what you would pay for a local product. Consumers buy it because the price is too good to be true. But they don’t know the origin of that product.
“I hope the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition will heed the request for a levy because what we are seeing now is the consequences of cheap products being imported.”
Visser says there are enough facilities in South Africa maintaining high food safety standards. “Products from well-known, larger manufacturers, such as Black Cat and Yum-Yum, have never been removed from the shelves.”
<caption> Products from well-known, larger manufacturers, such as Black Cat and Yum-Yum, have never been removed from the shelves, according to Alfons Visser of Peanuts SA. Photo: Supplied
SA Peanuts supplies them with groundnuts to process and incurs significant costs to ensure food safety standards are at an international level because they also export their products.
“It is unfair that certain companies incur the cost of ensuring food safety and others do not. We request that an overall food safety standard be implemented among all food processors before a product may appear on the shelf to avoid a recurrence and improve and ensure food safety in South Africa.”
Visser emphasised that local peanut butter is safe. “It remains a nutritious product. It hasn’t changed. The problem lies with cheaper imported products.”
He said a distinction must be made between raw groundnuts suitable for human consumption and those only for feed. “Well-known, larger manufacturers only use the former.”
