Seven years after deadly outbreak, Tiger Brands agrees to settle certain claims in listeriosis class action

By Lerato Mutsila and Tamsin Metelerkamp

12 May 2025

While Tiger Brands’ liability for the listeriosis outbreak in 2017/18 has yet to be determined in court, the food producer has agreed to settle certain claims in the long-running class action lawsuit linked to its now-closed Enterprise Foods facility in Polokwane, Limpopo.

Seven years after South Africa experienced the largest documented listeriosis outbreak in history, resulting in more than 1,000 infections and 218 deaths, food producer Tiger Brands has agreed to settle claims from certain groups in the protracted class action lawsuit brought against it.

On Monday, 12 May, Tiger Brands released a media statement confirming that the attorneys representing its lead reinsurer, QBE Insurance Group Limited, had presented a settlement offer to the plaintiffs’ attorneys as part of a “road-map to a possible overall resolution of the listeriosis class action”.

“The settlement offer, which was made on 25 April 2025, includes an undertaking to pay the claimants’ proven or agreed compensatory damages in terms of section 61 of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008,” stated Tiger Brands.

“The offer is subject to certain conditions and has been made without admission of liability and in full and final settlement of the claims of the claimants.”

The listeriosis outbreak in 2017/18 was linked to contaminated polony produced at a now-closed Enterprise Foods factory in Polokwane, Limpopo. Tiger Brands was the parent organisation for Enterprise Foods.

QBE Insurance Group has authorised settlement offers to the following groups of claimants in the class action who suffered as a result of the 2017/18 outbreak caused by the sequence type 6 (ST6) strain of Listeria monocytogenes:

Claimants who contracted (or whose mothers contracted) listeriosis caused by ST6;

Claimants whose legal breadwinners, on whom they were legally dependent, died of listeriosis caused by ST6; and

Claimants whose legal dependents, who were in their care, contracted listeriosis caused by ST6.

“Today’s announcement represents an important milestone and follows shortly on measures already taken in February 2025 to offer interim relief in the form of advance payments to identified claimants with urgent medical needs. It also demonstrates our commitment to continue to work closely with our insurers and their appointed attorneys to explore a resolution of the entire class action,” said Tjaart Kruger, CEO of Tiger Brands.

According to Tiger Brands, the next steps involve the offer being conveyed by the plaintiffs’ attorneys to “those claimants who qualify”, before damages of those claimants who accept the offer will be quantified.

“It is expected that the process to present the offer to these qualifying claimants will take several weeks, and that arrangements to quantify their damages will follow over the ensuing weeks,” said Tiger Brands.

Read more: Listeriosis tragedy ‘breakthrough’ evidence makes ‘overwhelming’ case Tiger Brands was responsible – lawyers

“The class action, which is being managed in two stages, is still at the first stage during which liability is to be determined by the court. Only if Tiger Brands is found to be liable will the issue of causation arise, in the second stage of the class action, as well as an assessment of compensation payable to qualifying claimants for damages suffered.

“As previously stated, Tiger Brands has adequate product liability insurance cover for a group of its size.”

Long legal road

In September 2024, Daily Maverick reported on claims by the plaintiffs’ legal team that they had received two important pieces of evidence related to the outbreak from the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), proving that the outbreak was linked to Tiger Brands’ Enterprise Foods facility in Polokwane.

The first was confirmation that the strain that was predominantly responsible for the outbreak, the sequence type 6 strain, was not found in any other facility or location apart from Tiger Brands’ Enterprise facility in Polokwane.

In January 2024, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), an institute of the NHLS, also provided public access to DNA sequence data for 403 ST6 isolates (a culture of microorganisms isolated for study) from the listeriosis outbreak. These isolates were derived from samples collected from human patients, food products and the environment at the factory in Polokwane; sequenced by the NICD; and analysed by several methods, including multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and core genome MLST.

Core genome MLST, a globally recognised method for precisely identifying individual bacterial strains, showed that about 382 of the 403 ST6 isolates had no more than four allelic differences, which meant they were closely related and shared a common origin.

On Monday, the legal team representing the class action claimants – made up of Richard Spoor Inc Attorneys and LHL Attorneys – released a statement welcoming Tiger Brands’ “effective admission of liability” for the 2017/18 listeriosis outbreak.

“Tiger Brands’ decision to settle claims is based on the incredible investigative work of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, under the direction of the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. Their scientific investigation, which conclusively traced the outbreak to Tiger Brands’ Polokwane facility, has been internationally peer-reviewed and praised. These findings have since been confirmed by world-renowned epidemiologists, including Tiger Brands’ own experts,” said the listeriosis class action attorneys.

Read more: Tiger brands takes first step toward justice with advance payments for listeriosis claimants

In February, Daily Maverick reported on a joint statement released by Tiger Brands, Richard Spoor Inc and LHL Attorneys, which announced that a limited number of claimants in the listeriosis class action would receive interim financial relief. These were claimants who had applied for urgent medical assistance while the class action process continued.

Fight for a fair settlement

In Monday’s statement, the class action attorneys commended Tiger Brands, its shareholders and insurers for agreeing to compensate victims, adding that this decision “reflects a positive move towards corporate accountability, responsible citizenship and justice for victims”.

The claimants’ legal team noted that a settlement mechanism still needed to be finalised, including how individual damages would be assessed and how claimants would be categorised under the settlement structure.

“Before any settlement can be finalised, it must be presented to the High Court, which will determine its fairness as the ultimate guardian of class member interests. While this process will require time, we remain confident that Tiger Brands’ renewed and demonstrable commitment to the victims will ultimately lead to a comprehensive resolution of all claims,” the class action attorneys said.

The legal team noted that while the agreement to settle represented a significant breakthrough, serious challenges remained in identifying additional victims of the outbreak.

“Many victims of the outbreak have not yet come forward and therefore have not been identified or located. The minister of health has requested a full update and has shown his commitment to assisting by providing Department of Health records to help confirm and trace victims,” they said.

Mark Heywood, a veteran health activist who has championed the rights of the families affected by the listeriosis outbreak, welcomed the news as a significant step forward and de facto admission of liability by Tiger Bands.

“It’s shocking that it has taken Tiger Brands seven years to admit the obvious. But now that it has, I call on it to embrace its responsibility to the very single person who was harmed, end delaying tactics and move expeditiously to compensate all victims. There are a lot of people still suffering from the companies’ negligence. They deserve an apology, finality and justice,” Heywood said. DM

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Long legal road

Fight for a fair settlement