The Federal food regulators have predicted that the organic strawberries packed by a few brands might be the reason behind the recent outbreak of hepatitis A in California. The regulators have pointed out towards the packages of HEB and FreshKampo that could be linked to the more than a dozen of cases of hepatitis A. The matter is being investigated by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, FDA along with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Public Health Agency of Canada. The infections are potentially linked to the fresh and organic labeled strawberries sold by a couple of labels that were purchased between March 5, 2022 and April 25, 2022.
The FDA has issued a warning that has said that people who are unsure about the brand that they have purchased, when or where from they have been purchased before freezing them, they should be thrown away immediately. The strawberries in question were sold at Kroger, HEB, Safeway, Trader Joe’s Weis Markets, Sprouts Farmers and Winco Foods.
Nearly 17 cases have been reported at the FDA in the United States while a dozen of them have been hospitalized. It has been noticed that majority of those cases are from California but the FDA has said that once case has been reported in Minnesota and North Dakota each. Reports have also said that nearly ten cases of hepatitis A and four hospitalizations that are related to strawberries have been reported.
The agency has assured that no deaths have been reported and that the strawberries are under investigation. The FDA has also said that the strawberries are likely to be the cause of the recent outbreak. Investigation is being carried out and there are chances that more products could be linked to the outbreak. On the other hand HEB has said that they have not sold the strawberries under investigation since April 16, 2022 and added that the strawberries are safe but people who have purchased between March 5 and April 25, 2022 should throw them away.
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