Woolworths launches own probe into counterfeit pilchards

Source: www.iol.co.za

Last week, the South African Police Service revealed that crime intelligence officers had raided a facility on Eland Street in Daleside, Sedibeng, during which they seized a large quantity of counterfeit canned pilchards and printing equipment used to alter expiration dates.

Workers had relabelled expired pilchards from 2021/22 with fake 2026 dates.

Seven undocumented migrants were arrested by police in Gauteng during the raid.

The retailer, in a statement, said it was aware of the recent police investigation into the discovery of a counterfeit operation involving canned pilchards in Woolworths-branded cartons found in a facility in Gauteng.

Woolworths is aware of the recent SAPS investigation into the discovery of a counterfeit operation involving canned pilchards in Woolworths-branded cartons, found in a facility in Gauteng.

Whilst this investigation is ongoing, we have strong reason to believe that the product in question may have formed part of an imported shipment from an international supplier that was rejected by Woolworths, as a result of it failing to meet our stringent quality control standards.


In the event of product being rejected, it becomes the immediate responsibility of the supplier to collect and dispose of the stock from our warehouse responsibly. We have launched our own investigation to determine why this process was not adhered to in this instance. At Woolworths, we take food safety and the wellbeing of our customers extremely seriously. It is our number one priority.


We would therefore like to remind our customers that Woolworths-labelled products must only be purchased at Woolworths stores, or through our Woolworths online channel.

As the police investigation proceeds, it remains unclear whether some of the large quantity of the counterfeit Lucky Star pilchards made it to informal spaza shops on the back of growing food-borne diseases.