You would have picked up by now (read here) that a large portion of SA’s upwardly mobile premium-brand consumers are in a tizz over the fact that Hellmann’s mayonnaise has pretty much disappeared from shelves around the country. Well here is the official response:

The original article can be read here.

Here is the response:

Just a message to advise every consumer in South Africa that Hellmann’s will be back on the shelves of most major retailers (Pick ‘n Pay & Spar) by end January 2013. New Hellmann’s stocks have arrived in SA last week and Patleys will be replenishing the retail trade within the next few weeks.

The reason for the non availability the past months is due to the new SA Foods Labelling legislation that came into effect in March 2012……which required new label artwork. As most consumers know the product is fully imported from Unilever USA and changing the label artwork on an international brand to meet the relatively small SA market was a laborious exercise. Furthermore the new labels also required final approval from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry (DAFF).

Hellmann’s Real – but no longer allowed to be labeled “Real” per DAFF – will be back on supermarket shelves by end January 2013, and Hellmann’s Light will be re-stocked during February 2013.

My business – Frans Kemper Trading CC – is the authorised importer of Hellmann’s from Unilever USA and Patleys is the appointed national distributor of Hellmann’s in South Africa.

Kind regards – Frans Kemper

Thanks for that, Frans.