Checkers Pulls Ready To Braai Chicken Product From Shelves After Customer Complaint

A popular ready-to-cook chicken product from Checkers has been quietly removed from shelves after a customer raised concerns about what was actually inside the packaging.

The retailer has confirmed that its Ready To Braai Smokey Stuffed Chicken Breast pack was withdrawn following a complaint that the product appeared to contain more barbecue sauce than chicken.

The issue first surfaced after a customer who ordered the item through the Checkers Sixty60 delivery service opened the pack and noticed something unusual.

Customer Complaint Raises Questions About Contents

According to the customer, the container seemed heavily filled with sweet barbecue sauce rather than the chicken breast advertised on the packaging.

To investigate, the customer separated the contents and weighed them individually.

The results suggested that the product contained 246 grams of chicken, including the stuffing, which accounted for about 49% of the total weight. The sauce alone weighed 264 grams, meaning the liquid portion exceeded the meat content.

This appeared inconsistent with the packaging label, which indicated the product contains 62% chicken breast.

The complaint also raised questions about whether the product might conflict with South Africa’s food labelling rules, particularly around how key ingredients must be declared.

How South African Food Labelling Rules Work

Food labelling in South Africa is governed by the Quantitative Ingredient Declaration (QUID) system, which falls under Regulation 26 of the Regulations Relating to the Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs (R146).

These regulations require food manufacturers to clearly disclose the percentage of key ingredients when they are emphasised in the name or marketing of a product.

For example, if “chicken” is highlighted in the product name or imagery, the label must accurately reflect how much chicken is included relative to the total weight of ingredients used during production.

The rules also outline specific rounding standards, typically requiring ingredient percentages to be rounded to the nearest 1%.

The goal is to ensure shoppers can make informed choices when comparing food products on supermarket shelves.

Shoprite Confirms Product Withdrawal

Following the complaint, Shoprite Holdings, the parent company of Checkers, confirmed that the product had been removed from sale.

According to reports, the retailer’s supplier conducted an internal investigation and discovered a production processing error at the manufacturing facility.

The chicken packs are prepared through a manual cutting and portioning process. During production, some packs ended up containing smaller pieces of chicken than intended.

Because the problem occurred during manual preparation, Shoprite said it could not determine exactly how many packs were affected.

The company has since introduced additional quality control measures to prevent the issue from happening again.

Improvements Planned For Online Product Transparency

Shoprite also indicated that it plans to improve transparency for customers shopping online.

The retailer is working on making full ingredient lists available for all private-label products sold online, which could help shoppers better understand what they are buying through delivery services like Sixty60.

Customers who are unhappy with items purchased through the app can submit a claim directly through the platform and receive an immediate refund to their bank account or as app credit.

Checkers And Sixty60 Continue Strong Growth

The product withdrawal comes at a time when the Shoprite Group continues to report strong sales growth.

For the six months ending 31 December 2025, the group recorded merchandise sales of about R136.8 billion, representing a 7.2% increase compared to the same period the previous year.

Sales at Shoprite and Usave stores grew by 5.1%, while Checkers and Checkers Hyper delivered stronger growth of 8.9%.

Meanwhile, the Sixty60 delivery platform continues to expand rapidly. Sales on the service jumped 34.6% to R11.9 billion, and the platform is now available at 875 stores across South Africa.

The incident highlights the growing scrutiny around food labelling and product transparency, especially as more South Africans turn to online grocery shopping where customers cannot physically inspect products before buying.

{Source:Business Tech}

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