Tiger Brands has made offers to compensate victims of the listeriosis outbreak, seven years after the world’s worst recorded outbreak of the deadly foodborne disease. It marks a turning point for corporate accountability and public health.
The settlement offer — made on April 25 and issued through Tiger Brands’ lead reinsurer, QBE Insurance Group, an Australia-based insurance giant — is part of the company’s plan to resolve the class-action lawsuit and bring to a closure one of the darkest chapters in its more than century-old history.
It targets specific named claimants who suffered damage as a result of the ST6 strain of listeria monocytogenes, the source of the outbreak that claimed more than 200 lives and affected more than 1,000 people across SA.
Tiger Brands’ settlement offer, while carefully avoiding any admission of liability, marks a calculated effort to draw the curtain on the legal nightmare and the public relations disaster that has cast a long shadow over one of the biggest names in SA’s food manufacturing.
The settlement applies to three categories of victims: individuals who contracted listeriosis (or whose mothers did) from the ST6 strain, dependants of legal breadwinners who died from the disease, and guardians of dependants who contracted the illness.
Tiger Brands said the offer included an undertaking to pay proven or agreed compensatory damages in line with section 61 of the Consumer Protection Act and was being made without admission of liability.
The settlement is part of a broader road map that could lead to an overall resolution of the class action. The class action is unfolding in two distinct stages. The current stage seeks to establish whether Tiger Brands can be held liable for the outbreak. If liability is confirmed, the second stage will shift focus to determining the direct impact on victims and assessing compensation for qualifying claimants.
Justice for victims
Richard Spoor Incorporated, the law firm leading the class action, welcomed the settlement offer, calling it “a positive move towards corporate accountability, responsible citizenship, and justice for victims”.
The firm said Tiger Brands’ decision was based on evidence from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, which traced the outbreak to the company’s Polokwane facility. The plaintiffs’ attorneys are expected to begin presenting the offer to qualifying claimants, with the process expected to take several weeks. Once accepted, individual damages will be assessed, followed by a high court review to determine the fairness of the settlement structure, according to the attorneys.
“While this is a significant breakthrough, serious challenges remain. Many victims of the outbreak have not yet come forward and therefore have not yet been identified or located. The minister of health has requested a full update and has shown his commitment to assisting with providing department of health records to help confirm and trace victims,” the attorneys said.
The health department has also welcomed Tiger Brands’ decision to settle the listeriosis class action, calling it an important step towards closure for affected families. The department encouraged anyone with evidence of a direct link to the outbreak to come forward for possible inclusion in the settlement.
“The outbreak highlighted the importance of consistent and strict adherence to food safety practices in the processing and handling of ready-to-eat foods, especially for mass supply. Food safety and hygiene practices remain crucial for public health, preventing foodborne illnesses, reducing food waste and avoiding costly food recalls,” the department said in a statement.
Tiger Brands did not disclose the size of the settlement or the financial fallout if accepted but said it has sufficient product liability insurance cover to manage the claims.
The group also announced that its headline earnings per share (Heps) from continuing operations for the six months to end-March were expected to be 30%-40% higher than the previous period’s 763c. Heps from total operations was expected to be 15%-25% higher year on year.
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