Pioneer Foods recalls LiquiFruit and Ceres apple juice products

Source: Supplied

An internal investigation by the food and beverage company revealed that a limited quantity of apple juice concentrate supplied to Pioneer Foods contained elevated levels of patulin. Patulin is a naturally occurring mycotoxin commonly associated with apples. The recall is based on the presence of this mycotoxin (patulin) exceeding 50 parts per billion (microgram/kg) which is the regulatory threshold.

CEO Tertius Carstens said, “The health and wellbeing of our consumers is of absolute importance to us, and hence when we identified the potential of a food safety issue, following in-house standard testing and engagement with one of our local suppliers, we immediately launched an internal investigation into all our 100% apple juice products.

“We have taken the decision, as a precautionary measure and with the interests of our consumers at heart, to launch a recall of products produced from the apple juice concentrate batch in question.”

The Pioneer Foods recall comes a week after Coca-Cola South Africa announced the voluntary recall of certain batches of Appletiser, also reportedly due to higher than acceptable level of patulin.

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28 Sep 2021

Products sold in SA

The following LiquiFruit 100% Apple Juice SKUs sold inside South Africa, Botswana and Namibia are affected, with the relevant batch and production codes below:

LiquiFruit Clear Apple 250ml carton

Single unit barcode: 60052599
Date coding: PD 11.06.2021 / BB 11.06.2022

LiquiFruit Clear Apple 330ml can

Single unit barcode: 6001240225561
Date coding: PD 07.06.2021 / BB 07.06.2022
PD 08.06.2021 / BB 08.06.2022

LiquiFruit Clear Apple 300ml can

Single unit barcode: 6001240239346
Date coding: PD 21.06.2021 / BB 21.06.2022

LiquiFruit Clear Apple 1L

Single unit barcode: 6001048000339
Date coding: PD 07.06.2021 / BB 07.06.2022
PD 08.06.2021 / BB 08.06.2022

Products sold outside of SA

The following Ceres 100% Apple Juice SKUs sold outside of South Africa are affected, with the relevant batch and production codes below:

Ceres Apple 4x6x200ml

Single unit barcode: 6001240200018
Date coding: PD 14.06.2021 / BB 14.06.2022
PD 21.06.2021 / BB 21.06.2022
PD 22.06.2021 / BB 22.06.2022

Ceres Apple Sparkling 275 ml glass

Single unit barcode: 6001240222676
Date coding: PD 14.06.2021 / BB 14.06.2022
PD 15.06.2021 / BB 15.06.2022

Ceres Apple 12x1L

Single unit barcode: 6001240100011
Date coding: PD 17.06.2021 / BB 17.06.2022
PD 18.06.2021 / BB 18.06.2022
PD 21.06.2021 / BB 21.06.2022
PD 22.06.2021 / BB 22.06.2022

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“We have not received any complaints from consumers about these products but decided to accelerate further testing on this product range to be absolutely certain of the extent of the potential impact,” Carstens clarified.

Consumers who have the products listed above, with the specific batch or date coding, are urged to return these products to the retailer from which they were purchased, to receive a full refund.