Tiger Brands has recalled Purity Essentials baby powder that may have been contaminated by traces of toxic asbestos, the latest product safety concern for a group still fighting a class-action lawsuit related to a listeria outbreak traced to products from its meat-processing plant.
The batch of raw material with the trace levels of asbestos does not meet the company’s strict quality and safety standards, Tiger Brands said. It is working with retail and wholesale customers to remove all affected items from the shelves.
Traces of asbestos were detected in test samples from a batch of pharmaceutical-grade talc powder, used as a raw material in making finished powder products. Affected products include the 100g, 200g and 400g sizes of Purity Essentials baby powder. It does not affect Purity baby powder made of corn starch powder or any other baby care products under the Purity brand.
The recall raises fresh questions about product safety at Tiger Brands, still reeling from the world’s worst listeriosis outbreak in 2018, which killed more than 200 people and triggered a class-action lawsuit from victims of the rare yet virulent form of food poisoning. The lawsuit is yet to be resolved.
Tiger Brands’ share price slumped as much as 10% on the news, before trimming losses to close 6.3% weaker at R156.10 — wiping R1.9bn off its market value. The shares are down 13.7% this year, partly a reflection of an industry-wide slump in the face of high food inflation, high energy and transport costs and weak consumer demand.
Tiger Brands said in a statement that the costs of the recall were not financially material, meaning that in terms of JSE listing rules it does not have to disclose what removing and destroying the affected products will cost the business.
“I think it’s more a reflection of the culture and leadership that is not sufficiently diligent on quality and safety standards,” Graeme Körner, director and portfolio manager at Körner Perspective, said.
This is the second time in about a year that Tiger Brands has recalled one of its products after asking customers in July 2021 to return 20-million cans of vegetable products after tests of nearly 300,000 cans found two developed leaks on side seams that could introduce bacteria into canned food.
The latest recall has the potential to further tarnish Tiger Brands’ image as a company that cannot guarantee safe consumer products.
“From time to time, sadly there will be issues, but in the case of Tiger Brands, it’s having a difficult time and this is the last thing it needs,” Jeremy Sampson, MD of Brand Finance Africa, said. “Purity, after all, is a brand renowned for the quality of its baby food and being a totally trusted brand.”
Baby powder that contains the mineral talc has been controversial in the US, where multinational Johnson & Johnson (J&J) faces more than 35,000 lawsuits.
J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in 2020 in the US after a voluntary recall of 33,000 containers in 2019. The US Food and Drug Administration regulators found traces of asbestos in the product.
The lawsuits claim the company knew its baby powder was contaminated and caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, an incurable cancer caused by extensive asbestos exposure.
J&J has always maintained baby powder was safe and did not cause cancer or contain asbestos, but in August said it was transitioning to selling baby powder made only with corn starch.
Janusz Luterek, a lawyer specialising in food and consumer safety who once acted for the firm, said Tiger sells a broad range of products and was likely to have more product recalls relative to smaller companies with fewer product offerings.
“I think doing recalls is the responsible thing to do, and increases trust in a brand that they will do the right thing to keep consumers safe when things go wrong.”
Luterek said that a precautionary recall does not mean that anyone suffered harm from the product. "‘Precautionary’ usually means that there has been no harm caused that they know of and they are not sure if it can cause harm and hence, to keep consumers safe until they know what the situation is, they recall product.”
Tiger said consumers who bought the affected products could return them at the nearest supermarket‚ wholesaler or pharmacy that stocks the product for a cash refund or coupon from September 8.
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