Wits dining halls have conducted a clean-up due to listeria breakout.
Processed meats were, on Monday morning, removed from all Wits dining halls following the Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi’s announcement on Sunday afternoon, that processed meat had been identified as the source of the listeria outbreak.
“The source of the present outbreak is the Enterprise food production facility located in Polokwane. Additionally, preliminary results show that several ready–to–eat processed meat products from the Enterprise facility located in Germiston contain listeria monocytogenes,” Motsoaledi said at a press briefing.
Wits Services operations manager for catering, Bontle Mogapi, told Wits Vuvuzela that a clean-up was conducted on Monday morning at all the Wits dining halls.
“As soon as we heard the announcement we obviously isolated all the items that were mentioned and we put them in big plastics and we just removed them from all the other items in the fridges. We did a complete clean out and disinfected the fridges,” she said.
Mogapi said the dining hall menus were being changed as a result of the listeria bacteria. “It’s mostly your breakfast cause that’s where you have your viennas and sausages. The menu will be tweaked; we’ll look at more chicken items to be included,” said Mogapi.
Wits Services operations manager for retail, Karen Du Plessis, said the food outlets on the campuses were tested on Monday by food auditors, TPro Food Consulting. “They (TPro Food Consulting) came to do swabs at all the retail outlets, at The Matrix and the rest of campus. We are expecting those results either [Tuesday or Wednesday],” she said.
Second-year BAccSci student, Sthembele Vezi, said she was grateful because of the changes made at the dining hall. “After the outbreak of the bacteria, at our dining hall, Jubilee, yesterday we had a programme by the dining hall coordinator. They told us how this thing breaks out and how they’re not going to provide those foods which are suspected to have listeria. We’re just grateful that they are taking it seriously because it does affect us and it’s real.
“It makes me feel comfortable, because yesterday morning, we didn’t even have sandwiches because most of them have polony and cheese. We had fish fingers for breakfast,” Vezi said.