Poisonous Zimbabwean peanut butter spreads across the UK

By Lance Guma
15 December 2005

A national food alert has been triggered in the United Kingdom after an Environmental Health worker in Luton discovered poisonous peanut butter in shops that sell mainly Zimbabwean products. A major investigation has been launched after several batches containing jars of Willard’s smooth peanut butter on sale in Luton were found to contain high levels of aflatoxin, which causes cancer in animals and is poisonous to humans.

This has sparked a nationwide withdrawal of the product from shops all over the UK. Several quantities of the peanut butter, which arrived via Gatwick Airport from Zimbabwe, have been discovered in Zimbabwean owned shops in the Luton area. Routine food tests at the airport alerted authorities who then tracked down the destinations for the product. Health workers have so far destroyed all the contaminated products.

The incident has created Luton town’s first ever national food hazard warning and concern is growing over how big the problem really is in terms of the whole UK. Hittess Vhagela the health worker who made the discovery says over 100 jars have so far been identified in just one shop and its warehouse. He told Luton Today Newspaper, "The retailer not only sells direct to the public but is also a distributor to other shops across the country. They quickly agreed to stop selling the affected batches and put up a notice asking customers to return contaminated products for a full refund’.

Zambezi Foods have since alerted businesses that received the supplies and arranged for them to also issue a warning to their customers. Zambezi Foods owner Marvin Muchando said: "This is the first time we have had a problem since the business started four years ago. We began importing this peanut butter a few months ago and one batch was recently found to be contaminated during a routine check.’

Principal Environmental Health Officer Alison Parker told Newsreel that aflatoxins in food products do not normally cause serious illness in humans but all the same remained poisonous. She commended Zambezi Foods for their level of co-operation as this had helped contain the problem. A spokesman for Zambezi Foods told Newsreel the number of products had been slightly exaggerated in the media and was not as high as reported. He assured their customers the peanut butter had been withdrawn and would not pose a health hazard.