The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has re-issued advice to boil frozen berries due to a hepatitis A threat that has been identified in the food chain.
The warning comes one year after a similar alert was issued when an outbreak of Hepatitis A was linked to frozen berries and, despite a European-wide trace-back operation, no single point of contamination was found.
The FSAI said that it was concerned that several cases of Hepatitis A had been reported during the summer which could not be associated with travelling overseas. Since the original alert in July last year, 1,440 cases of unexplained Hepatitis A have been reported in twelve European countries, with 331 cases (21 in Ireland) confirmed by genotyping.
Frozen Berries Hepatitis A Threat from the Catering Industry
Professor Alan Reilly – chief executive of the FSAI – was quick to comment that the frozen berries hepatitis A threat originates from imported berries and not from those produced in Ireland, although he added that fresh berries should still be washed thoroughly before being eaten.
Professor Reilly also explained that imported frozen berries were widely used in the catering industry and that businesses involved in catering should check that the berries they used in their products were sourced from reputable suppliers with comprehensive food safety management systems in place.
The FSAI is working in collaboration with the National Virus Reference Laboratory, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the Health Service Executive to track the sources of the frozen berries associated with the hepatitis A threat, and cross-referencing their findings with an ongoing investigation in Italy.
Hepatitis A Symptoms and Treatment
Hepatitis A symptoms are more likely to manifest in the young, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. Typically the incubation period of the illness is between fifteen and fifty days, after which the victim will experience a fever, nausea, a loss of appetite and abdominal pain.
The symptoms can last from a few weeks to several months, during which time the only treatment is pain relief and plenty of rest. Doctors advise that, as hepatitis A is a disease which predominantly affects the liver, victims of the illness should refrain from drinking alcohol until they have recovered.
If exposure to the virus is identified quickly enough, victims can be treated with a mixture of the hepatitis A vaccine and immunoglobulin – a blood product derived from the blood of people who have a natural immunity to hepatitis A – however, this treatment normally has to be administered within fourteen days to be effective.
Compensation for Hepatitis A due to Contaminated Berries
Due to the incubation period of the illness, victims may have eaten contaminated berries prior to the FSAI´s advice being issued and before retailers had the opportunity to remove imported frozen berries from their shelves.
Nonetheless, stores, supermarkets and manufacturers in the catering industry all have a duty of care to supply goods which do not pose a threat to the health of those who consume them. Consequently, if you – or a loved one – have suffered from Hepatitis A due to eating contaminated fruit, you should speak with a solicitor at the first possible opportunity.