In an interview with The Chronicle, Ministry of Health and Child Care Permanent Secretary, Retired Major General Dr Gerald Gwinji yesterday assured Zimbabweans that they are safe from listeriosis as appropriate measures have been put in place at the Beitbridge Border Post to avoid importation of cold meat into the country.
He said that the risk of having contaminated cold meats in the country are low since most of it is manufactured locally. Said Dr Gwinji:
The risk of having contaminated food coming into the country has actually reduced considering that the manufacturer of the suspected cold meats that are found to be contaminated has been closed. However, we continue to be alert. Members of the public are worried about us banning cold meats in local shops but I can assure you that cold meats sold in most of our shops are manufactured locally by entities like Colcom. We don’t have a challenge as far as the health of Zimbabweans is concerned. For countries like Mozambique it’s a challenge than it is for us. The measures we have put in place are adequate to address the challenge, detect any outbreak that might be related to cold meats but most importantly prevent it from coming in by having the border surveillance.
He added that listeriosis is not like Ebola or cholera where an infected individual can affect other people.
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