A Cape Town supplier – House of Natural Butters (trading as Eden All Butters) – has been slapped with a hefty R500 000 fine as part of a settlement agreement with the National Consumer Commission (NCC) for distributing “contaminated, decayed and impure” peanut butter.
The National Consumer Tribunal confirmed the settlement, which follows a product safety investigation initiated when several products were found to contain high levels of aflatoxin, a toxic substance produced by certain moulds.
The NCC said the supplier and the commission had entered into the settlement agreement on 25 February 2025, which was subsequently referred to the Tribunal.
The Cape Argus reports that on 3 June, the Tribunal confirmed the agreement and made it a consent order in terms of section 74(1) of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
The NCC was first alerted to the issue in February 2024 through product recall notifications issued by Dischem and Pick n Pay, prompted by elevated levels of aflatoxin in peanut butter products supplied by House of Natural Butters.
It subsequently emerged that House of Natural Butters also produced items for other suppliers, and as a result, broader recalls were launched.
An NCC investigation found that between 11 May 2023 and 6 November 2023, House of Natural Butters had “imported and supplied contaminated, decayed and impure peanuts, groundnuts and by-products to South African consumers through various retailers”.
In confirming the consent order, the Tribunal noted: “The respondent imported the products from Malawi and Zambia using trucks and trailers, via land borders and port entries. The trucks and trailers did not have the requisite certificates of acceptability required for transporting food. Further laboratory tests… established that the products were contaminated, decayed and impure.”
The matter involving another peanut butter manufacturer implicated in the case is still ongoing.
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