Pioneer Foods Warns Its Consumer to Watch Out for Counterfeit Products

South African food and beverage manufacturer Pioneer Foods has recalled its Ceres apple juice brands that sold in Kenya and other Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) countries due to contamination of mould toxins.

The recalled brands were detected to have elevated levels of patulin – a fruit-based mould which when consumed can cause nausea, gastrointestinal disturbances, and vomiting, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Comesa Competition Commission on Wednesday said Pioneer Foods had informed it that the affected juice brands were imported and marketed in several countries including Kenya.

“Given the foregoing the Commission would like to inform the general public to exercise caution and avoid the purchase or consumption of the recalled products,” said the regional trading bloc’s competition watchdog in a statement.

“If the above products were already purchased, consumers are advised to return the products where they were purchased for a refund or replacement.”

A spot-check carried out on Wednesday afternoon showed the products were still retailing in several retail outlets within Nairobi.

Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has not publicly issued a position on the recall.

The South African firm said separately its investigation had confirmed that “a limited quantity of apple juice concentrate supplied to them contained elevated levels of patulin, a mould toxin mainly found in rotting apples.”

“The recall is based on the presence of patulin in a concentration of more than 50 parts per billion (ppb), which is the regulatory threshold,” the company said.

The risk of consuming patulin exceeding 50μg/l may lead to vomiting, nausea and gastrointestinal symptoms.