SPAR Brand meat products are benchmarked against international food safety and quality standards.

The SPAR Group would like to assure our customers that there is no food safety issue surrounding the University of Stellenbosch study on meat labelling.  We are aware that there may be minute traces of DNA from other species e.g. beef, pork, chicken or lamb which can be detected in products which are produced from the same butchery, if these are tested in a laboratory.  We are confident that the traces detected in the study are due to this ‘cross contact’.  We assure you that our Group have procedures in place to ensure food is produced hygienically. 

We are working with the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa on this issue, in order to achieve an Industry Standard regarding this type of testing.  We would like to refer you to the press statement on their website www.cgcsa.co.za .

Furthermore, we put in place a testing programme for our own Brand products to determine whether any ‘foreign’ species could be identified, and no other such species were identified.  We audit our own Brand suppliers against an Internationally recognised food safety programme (Global Food Safety Initiative).
We will continually strive to provide you with comprehensive labelling to enable you to make an informed choice on the products you purchase.