Ministers release update on Hepatitis A contamination

The Minister for Agriculture and the Assistant Minister for Health have released an update on the Hepatitis A outbreak that has been linked to imported frozen berries.

Creative Gourmet and Nanna’s brands frozen berries will now be sourced from new farms and factories and will be subject to stricter microbiological testing than before, Barnaby Joyce and Fiona Nash said in a statement.

“Patties Foods has worked closely with my department throughout this food safety incident to help identify and hold berry product that potentially poses a risk to human health,” the ministers’ statement said.

“All imported product that was linked to the outbreak of Hepatitis A in Australia was recalled by Patties and will never be put back onto the market.”

“There is very strong evidence that consumption of Nanna’s 1 kg fresh frozen mixed berries led to an increased risk of developing Hepatitis A infection in this outbreak,” Senator Nash said.

“Cases with an identical genetic strain of Hepatitis A virus occurred across Australia, reporting the common consumption of that product.

“Although testing of food is an unreliable way to detect Hepatitis A virus, as Patties Foods Limited have noted, the Victorian state health department testing of the product in question has now confirmed evidence of Hepatitis A virus at trace levels from a sealed packet of the product. Hepatitis A virus was also detected in an open packet of Nanna’s 1 kg fresh frozen mixed berries from a case.”

New import requirements for frozen berries are being developed and will be announced in the coming weeks, Minister Joyce said.