Test regimen for frozen berries can be strengthened

The current hepatitis A outbreak could lead to a strengthening of the testing regimen for imported frozen berries, New Zealand Food Safety said.

Twelve cases of hepatitis A were discovered in the community in connection with the consumption of imported frozen berries, leading to a recall of some popular Pams products.

The deputy director-general of New Zealand food safety, Vincent Arbuckle, said the authority’s current focus is on managing “the immediate risk”.

But he added: “We are always interested in improvements we can make in the interest of food safety.

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“I’m sure there will be insights that we can take from this current situation to strengthen the rules.”

Imported frozen berries were currently considered a higher risk food for regulatory purposes, he said, and it was up to importers to provide evidence of testing for foodborne illness in the fruit.

Testing frozen berries looked for evidence of E.Coli, which is an indicator of broader problems, including the hepatitis A virus, he said.

The tests are performed in internationally accredited laboratories and all test results are sent to New Zealand Food Safety.

“All imported frozen berries are subject to a sampling and testing regime or official guarantees from importing countries before being released for sale. It is the importer’s responsibility to provide such testing or assurance.”

Official guarantees are like a passport for products and must be independently verified.

However, because of the volume of berries and the fact that they come from different countries and producers, testing cannot be comprehensive, Arbuckle said.

Since hepatitis A was a notifiable disease, health authorities shared information about cases with New Zealand Food Safety to investigate the source.

“In this case, the reported cases are regular consumers of frozen berries.

Hepatitis A is usually caused by poor hygiene practices in the supply chain. We know there is a risk associated with frozen berries as the product has been linked to multiple outbreaks and recalls abroad.

“It remains relatively rare in New Zealand, but current cases of the virus associated with frozen berry consumption account for half of the cases in the country this year.”

dr. Mark Thomas, an infectious disease expert at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, said all berries could potentially carry hepatitis A, but a berry could carry the virus, it was usually picked or handled by someone who had hepatitis A.

As the body excretes the virus through the stool, Thomas said a person can transmit the virus to berries through hands contaminated with their poo.

“Some pickers have had hepatitis A and have continued to work. They probably work in an environment where they defecate in the fields where they have not had the facilities to wash their hands and they have continued to pick.

“The berries they picked are mixed with berries picked by others and exported to New Zealand,” Thomas says.

A study conducted after a 2002 outbreak of hepatitis A from locally grown blueberries showed that the berries came from a farm where the pickers had “something like a long drop in the field, with no hand-washing facilities,” Thomas said.

Thomas said outbreaks of hepatitis A were rare in New Zealand, where “generally good sewage systems” meant there was little incidence of the virus.

Meanwhile, Food Safety Minister Meka Whaitiri said handling the outbreak was “an operational matter” for New Zealand’s food safety and she was confident it was taking the right steps to contain the outbreak.

National’s food safety spokesperson Barbara Kuriger said: “As this is the second incident in recent times, I will speak with the Ministry of Primary Industries about their security measures and what they are doing to protect New Zealanders from situations like this.”