Township traders who sell kota, a popular food of a quarter loaf of bread base topped with chips and cold meats, said the recall of polony and viennas had hit their businesses hard.

Hassan Kajaja, 27, of Panini Cafe in Atteridgeville, said his business was badly affected despite minimal use of polony.

On a normal day the business makes between R1200 and R1500 but Kajaja said he made only R300 on Monday.

"It is bad. We normally have a morning and afternoon rush but it is now quiet. People say they do not want to die. We sell a different product that is 100% halal but people are scared."

Kajaja said he started the fast food business with his friends in 2015 after struggling to find employment.

"This is our bread and butter. We are hoping the [health] minister will rescue us and lift the recall soon. We also hope that those who are implicated can fix the problem soon because this affects all of us. Something must be done quick before the damage gets irreversible," he said.

Aaron Nyasha, 25, an employee at Brian's Delights, fears he might lose his job if business continues to drop. "This place is normally packed but as you can see, some of the chairs are empty. Normally by lunch time we would have sold close to 100 sphatlho (Tshwane kota) but yesterday and today is very bad. Most of the people who come ask us to remove the polony and russian."