JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's largest food producer Tiger Brands said on Monday it was recalling about 20 million canned vegetable products as the cans may have defective side seam weld that could cause leaks.

The canned products forming part of the recall include those from the KOO and Hugo's canned vegetable range, including baked beans, that were produced from May 1, 2019 to May 5, 2021. The 20 million cans amount to about 9% of annual production, the food producer said.

The financial impact of the precautionary recall - including the cost of the potentially affected stock that might be written off - transport and storage costs, as well as the loss of margin on the returned stock, was estimated at 500 million to 650 million rand ($34 million-$44 million), Tiger Brands added.

The recall comes after Tiger Brands first identified 18 leaking food cans in May as part of routine quality control procedures. After reporting the incident to the packaging supplier, the food producer was notified that a further three batches of cans had the same defect.

Investigations identified a deficiency in the side seam weld of cans manufactured by the third-party supplier.

"No health issues have been reported to date relating to the affected product range. Despite the low probability of illness and injury, matters of quality and food safety are an absolute priority for Tiger Brands," the company said.

A leak in a can presents a risk of secondary microbial contamination after the canned products are dispatched into the marketplace, however, where such contamination occurs, it will present a low probability of illness and injury if the contaminated product is consumed, it added.

($1 = 14.8746 rand)

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Edmund Blair and Anil D'Silva) ((nqobile.dludla@thomsonreuters.com; +27103461066;))