Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 08-03-2018
A specialist Microbiologist has told Radio Islam the latest outbreak of Listerioisis has not affected Muslims.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi revealed on Sunday that the origin of the Listeriosis outbreak in South Africa has been traced to polony from the Enterprise Foods factory in Polokwane.
In addition to the Polokwane facility, Listeria has been traced to another Enterprise facility in Germiston on the East Rand, and a Rainbow chicken facility in the Free State.
The Literiosis bacterium which is found in the environment and commonly occurs in soil, water, and vegetation and in the faeces of some animals has killed over 180 people since January 2017 and more than 900 other cases have been reported.
Dr Suleiman Kaka says because of the consciousness Muslims have about halaal certification, it has greatly assisted them in not becoming affected by the deadly bacterium.
“Enterprise Foods is not a halaal entity, it’s not halaal certified. They deal with pork and things and no halaal certifying authority is going to go anywhere near it. Muslims generally don’t buy from such enterprises, so we are very fortunate and this has protected us. That is a bullet that we missed.”
Kaka says despite the strict controls in the halaal meat industry including halaal certification, there is no guarantee that Muslims are not being exposed on an ongoing basis to the same germs and pathogens.
“We are protected to an extent because we don’t deal with pork and pork is always a big culprit when it comes to food borne illnesses. But otherwise our chickens, our cows and everything else, we obtain it from the same sources. So we can be quite certain that we are being exposed on an ongoing basis to the same pathogens.”
Kaka emphasised that the reason Muslims have not been affected by food poisoning and food borne illnesses is because most if not all Muslims are not in the habit of eating their food uncooked or undercooked and that cooking destroys all germs and pathogens.
Listen to the full interview with Dr. Suleiman Kaka
0 Comments