A frozen organic strawberry product subject to the recalls is pictured in a photo provided by the FDA.
Food and Drug Administration
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Food and Drug Administration
A frozen organic strawberry product subject to the recalls is pictured in a photo provided by the FDA.
Food and Drug Administration
Frozen organic strawberries sold in stores across the US, including Costco, Aldi and Trader Joe’s, have been recalled due to the product’s potential link to an outbreak of hepatitis A infection in Washington state.
The Food and Drug Administration is advising people not to consume certain frozen strawberry brands after five people who ate frozen strawberries last year became ill. Two people were hospitalized, according to the federal agency.
An investigation by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that all five infected people bought the same brand of frozen organic strawberries before getting sick. Those berries, which came from a common supplier who imported them from several farms in Baja California, Mexico, “are the likely source of this outbreak,” says the CDC.
Two companies have already issued voluntary recalls in response to the investigation. California Splendor of San Diego remembered certainly many 4-pound bags of Kirkland Signature Frozen Organic Whole Strawberries sold at Costco stores in Los Angeles, Hawaii and two business centers in San Diego.
Scenic Fruit Company, based in Gresham, Ore., recalled sold frozen organic strawberries in some states — at Costco, Aldi, KeHE, Vital Choice Seafood and PCC Community Markets. The company also recalled a frozen organic tropical fruit blend, which includes strawberries, sold at Trader Joe’s locations nationwide.
The recall applies to frozen products sold under the following brand names: Simply Nature, Vital Choice, Kirkland Signature, Made With, PCC Community Markets and Trader Joe’s.
The FDA urges consumers to destroy these products or return them to their local store for a refund “out of an abundance of caution.”
Hepatitis A is a infectious liver infection, according to the CDC, is usually spread through close contact with an infected person or by eating contaminated food or drink. Symptoms, which can take up to seven weeks to appear, can include vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine or pale stools, diarrhea and fatigue.