Although Tiger Brands had offered a settlement in May 2025 over the 2017 listeriosis scandal, and subsequent class action lawsuit, one of the complainants has confirmed to The Citizen a year later that no settlement had yet been reached.
Tiger Brands has not responded to a request for comment, but lawyers pursuing justice for the victims, however, say they are making progress.
In April, a court ruling had ordered government departments to co-operate with the legal representatives by releasing medical records and investigation reports related to the outbreak in which at least 180 people died after eating contaminated food traced to two Tiger Brands facilities in Germiston and Polokwane.
Negotiations ongoing
The ruling ordered the Health, Agriculture and Forestry Departments, as well as the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) to hand over records related to the outbreak and subsequent investigations.
The lawyers handling the class action, Richard Spoor Incorporated (RSI) and LHL Attorneys, confirmed to claimants that the NICD and NHLS were co-operating with the order.
“We have received a substantial volume of material, which our team and experts are now reviewing as part of our ongoing trial preparation,” the legal teams said.
RSI and LHL were determining the losses incurred by the victims on a case-by-case basis by assessing personal records and accounts. These include funeral expenses, tax information, earnings and the employment losses suffered.
As of March 2018, 978 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases had been confirmed in all provinces of the country, with that number exceeding 1 000 as the year progressed.
Gauteng accounted for 59% of cases, followed by the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal with 12% and 7%, respectively: 42% of the cases were neonates who were infected during pregnancy or delivery.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Judge orders punitive costs over listeriosis case ‘ineptitude’
Court orders release of medical records in listeriosis case
Tiger Brands to settle some listeriosis claims – seven years later