Washington | Reuters –– Food safety regulators in both Canada and the U.S. are investigating a hepatitis A outbreak potentially linked to tainted organic strawberries that has sickened 17 people in the U.S. and 10 in Canada, the agencies said.
Fifteen illnesses were reported in California, and one each in Minnesota and North Dakota, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. Twelve of the sick people were hospitalized, the FDA said without elaborating.
The produce, which was distributed nationwide, was sold under the brand name FreshKampo or HEB between March 5 and April 25, the FDA said in a statement late Saturday.
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“People who purchased the fresh strawberries and then froze those strawberries for later consumption should not eat them. They should be thrown away,” it said.
The Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, meanwhile, said they were investigating six cases in Saskatchewan and four in Alberta.
The imported organic strawberries linked to those cases were bought between March 5 and 9 at Co-op stores in the two provinces and are no longer available for purchase in Canada, they said.
“Based on investigation findings to date, consumption of imported fresh organic strawberries is the likely source of the outbreak,” the agencies said in a statement Friday.
The people affected in the Canadian cases were sickened between early and mid-April and were between 10 and 75 years of age. Of the 10 reported cases, four were hospitalized.
People who have eaten the organic strawberries, purchased fresh and later frozen, and/or have symptoms consistent with hepatitis A, should contact a health care provider, the agencies said, noting vaccination can prevent a hepatitis A infection if given within 14 days of exposure.
— Reporting for Reuters by Doina Chiacu. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.
