Pioneer Foods is launching a recall of certain 100% apple juice products, sold under its LiquiFruit brand in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, and Ceres brand in other jurisdictions (exports).

“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” explains Tertius Carstens, CEO.

The investigation to date, has confirmed that a limited quantity of apple juice concentrate supplied to us, contained elevated levels of patulin. Based on these results the company took the decision to launch the recall. 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.

“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”.

Products Affected in South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia

The following LiquiFruit 100% Apple Juice SKUs sold inside South Africa, Botswana and Namibia are affected.

Here are the relevant batch and production codes:

Products Affected Outside of South Africa

The following Ceres 100% Apple Juice SKUs sold outside of South Africa are affected.

Here are the relevant batch and production codes:

Carstens clarifies: “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”.

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.

Editor’s Note:

For information on the acceptable levels of Patulin in Apple Juice, view the CODEX Guidelines here