The worst drought in decades has left hundreds and thousands of poor South Africans on the brink of starvation in KwaZulu-Natal and increased food prices across the country. And – almost literally – rubbing salt in the wounds, local poultry companies are, at the same time, pumping SA frozen chicken with up to 43% salt-water brine. The awful consequence is that the poorest of the poor are paying for less chicken per kilogram that, ultimately, is very likely to lead to serious public health problems.
As importers of poultry, our product is 99% brine-free. That means consumers aren’t being conned. Our BRICS partners, Brazil, have outlawed the practice of brining altogether.
Yet our government continues to drag its heels on this particular issue of salt reduction, despite us having one of the highest rates of hypertension in the world.
What is truly remarkable in this awful situation is that, despite promising more than a year ago, the Minister of Agriculture is actively delaying an intervention to stop this unfair and unhealthy practice. Officials within the government and industry experts openly gossip as to how the local chicken industry is pulling the Minister’s strings on this issue.
On 1 October DAFF announced that Minister Zokwana had approved new brining regulations for poultry and that these regulations would appear in the government gazette. What followed was an embarrassing display of government incompetence: almost immediately, the announcement was retracted due to ‘technical reasons’.
The announcement, though quickly retracted, did not come as a surprise to me. Industry and consumers had been expecting it. DAFF had in fact proposed the restrictions as far back as 2012 and notified the WTO of their intentions in 2013.In August this year I attended a useful meeting between local industry players and Minister Zokwana, where brining regulation was discussed.
At the meeting, The National Consumer Council as well as The Heart Foundation of South Africa raised consumer and health related concerns about the levels of sodium being injected into frozen chicken. The majority of attendants were in favour of regulations that would curtail the practice where, up to 43% salt-water is injected into frozen chicken.
The Minister acknowledged that the full public participation process had been completed and that he had all information he needed to adopt the regulations. Even officials from his Department expected adoption of regulations to be imminent.
Suggestions have been made, from those with vested interests in the brining enterprise, that the absence of an adequate consultation process was the reason behind the Department’s red-faced retraction. That is an absurdity. A full public participation process, that, included concessions by both government and business was completed well over a year ago.
In April 2015, DAFF delivered a presentation on brining to the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture in Parliament. The Department made it clear that it proposed restricting brining uptake at 15% for chicken cuts and 10% on whole birds. The local poultry industry – represented by the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) participated fully in this Portfolio Committee process.
If indeed SAPA need reminding about the compromised process that led to the 10% and 15% figures, they would do well to recall that the Department of Health’s official submission, that brining be capped at 0%!
The Department of Health’s submission not surprising at all. In a meeting I attended with the Minister of Health earlier this year, he was openly surprised to learn that there had been a delay in the regulation of chicken brining. He made it clear that he believes that a reduction in brining levels would have huge public health benefits for South Africans. What a pity he hasn’t taken this matter up across the Cabinet room floor.
in November I wrote to the World Health Organisation as well as the World Trade Organisation alerting them and asking them to investigate DAFF’s failure to meet its own commitment to the enforce brining regulations
Poor South Africans are doing all they can to feed their families and to survive the multiple challenges of drought and rampant unemployment. The very least the government can do is to ensure that their food is healthy and priced fairly. To sell them up to 43% saltwater instead of chicken is to truly kick them while they’re down. If the Minister is to reclaim any of his credibility as the guardian of our agricultural resources, he must announce a timetable for the promulgation of these long overdue regulations.
David Wolpert is the CEO of the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters SA (AMIE).
