Hepatitis A Outbreak: FDA Expands Frozen Strawberry Recalls Amidst Contamination Concerns

Hepatitis A Outbreak: FDA Expands Frozen Strawberry Recalls Amidst Contamination Concerns

Edited by: TJVNews.com

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Wednesday that they have made significant progress in its investigation into a widespread hepatitis A outbreak affecting multiple states. As part of their ongoing efforts, the FDA has identified additional brands of frozen strawberries that may be contaminated. The recent findings have led to the recall of five new products, which were distributed by Willamette Valley Fruit and sold under various brands at Walmart, Costco, and HEB stores.

As of June 13, the hepatitis A outbreak has affected nine individuals across three states: Washington, Oregon, and California. Fortunately, no fatalities have been reported, but three individuals required hospitalization due to the severity of their illness.

The newly identified brands subject to recall include Great Value and Rader Farms, distributed by Willamette Valley Fruit. Great Value products affected by the recall include frozen mixed fruit in 4-pound bags, sliced strawberries in 4-pound bags, and antioxidant fruit blend in 2-pound bags.

The Great Value products were sold in Walmart stores in Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming, according to a report on the foodsafetynews.com web site.

Rader Farms products subject to recall are the organic Fresh Start smoothie blend in 48-ounce bags, sold at Costco stores, and the organic berry trio in 3-pound bags, sold at HEB stores in Texas.

It is important to note that this is not the first round of recalls associated with the hepatitis A outbreak. All previous recalls have involved frozen strawberries originating from the same growing region in Mexico. Previous recalls include Wawona Frozen Foods products distributed as Organic DayBreak Blend sold in Costco Wholesale stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, and Washington; California Splendor supplied products sold at Costco stores in Los Angeles and Hawaii, and to two San Diego business centers; Scenic Fruit supplied products sold in Costco, Aldi, KeHE, Vital Choice Seafood, and PCC Community Markets in specific states; and to Trader Joe’s nationwide, as was reported on the foodsafetynews.com web site.  The retailer Meijer also issued a recall of certain frozen strawberry products in relation to the outbreak.

“This is not an exhaustive list of products or stores,” according to the Food and Drug Administration’s update. “FDA is continuing to work with the firms to identify potential additional product information.”