Astral Foods Limited [ Astral ]
Astral South Africa’s leading integrated poultry producer notes with concern a fake report, depicted as a “television news type screenshot”, being circulated via WhatsApp messaging and other social media platforms, that states some of its employees have tested positive for the Coronavirus, and that the Health Minister has ordered the shutdown of an Astral production facility.
Astral Foods has dismissed the report as false, and has determined this picture to have been illegitimately produced. The company has reported this to the relevant Government platform provided for such fake news reports, fakenewsalert@dtps.gov.za.
No employee has tested positive for the Coronavirus COVID-19, and Astral condemns this fake news in the strongest possible terms. The company would like to assure all its stakeholders including shareholders, consumers, customers, suppliers and employees that this false news story is completely unfounded.
Chris Schutte, CEO, commented: “We strongly caution against creating and spreading fake news such as this, which causes unnecessary alarm and in terms of the Government regulations surrounding the national state of disaster, constitutes a criminal offence.”
We are following stringent hygiene protocols, and have implemented a multitude of measures to ensure the health and well-being of our staff during this period, especially at a time when as an essential service we have been called upon to ensure uninterrupted food supply to the nation. In addition we want to assure all consumers that all our poultry products are safe to eat.
“It is extremely unfortunate that at this time, when the whole of Astral and the poultry supply value chain are working under extremely difficult circumstances to rise to the Presidents call to maintain the supply of food to all consumers, that some irresponsible person/s has found it necessary to undermine these efforts by concocting this fake story,” concludes Schutte.
