Patties Foods has said that a link has yet to be found between its frozen berry products and the current hepatitis A outbreak.
"There is still no detailed viral analysis from accredited laboratories that proves any firm association of hepatitis A Virus (HAV) with our recalled products,” Patties Foods MD and CEO, Steven Chaur said.
"We have initiated further testing of the recalled product from world leading accredited viral laboratories in Europe, North America and here in Australia, and we expect results for HAV within a fortnight.”
18 people are now confirmed to have contracted the virus, which has an incubation period of seven weeks.
Chaur said, however, that the company had not yet been provided with any remaining product from the confirmed HAV cases to clinically verify a direct link with the Nanna's Mixed Berries.
The consumer recall initiated last week, he said, was based on epidemiological advice from the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) as a precautionary measure.
Since the recall, Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce has called for clearer country of origin labelling, as have a number of lobby groups including the National Farmers’ Federation, vegetable industry body, Ausveg and consumer advocacy group Choice.
According to Choice, almost half of the 55 frozen fruit and vegetable products it surveyed carried unclear or confusing origin statements.
“Claims such as ‘Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients’ tell you very little about the origin of your food. Consumers deserve a better system," Choice spokesperson Tom Godfrey said.
Patties, meanwhile, has also provided details on its microbiological testing program for its overseas sourced frozen fruit and berry products.
Samples of all imported berry products are tested up to four times, and Patties physically inspects all its supplier farms and contracted fruit packing facilities, including those in China, according to Chaur.
“All our packing facilities are accredited to one of the GFSI (Global Food Standards Initiative) Quality Standards, which includes BRC (British Retail Consortium) certification for the facilities under investigation,” Chaur said.
“Our Chinese contracted facilities are selected based on meeting strict food safety and food certification criteria, then are physically audited each year by Patties Foods technical representatives, as well as CIQ (China Inspection and Quarantine Services), which is the Chinese regulator and the equivalent of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS).”
According to Chaur, Patties also tests raw material from the farms seasonally for items such as Hepatitis A and novovirus, and it also tests individual batches for microbiological compliance before the fruit is allowed to enter the packing facility. It then tests the fruit again at the production facility for coliforms, listeria, staphylococcus and E.coli, before and after packing into bags.
“E.coli testing is a critical biological marker used to identify any potential association with organic materials, such as manure or poor hygiene, and our test results consistently pass all Australian Standards,” Chaur said.
"The CIQ tests every container before it leaves the country for microbiological compliance, as a last line of microbiological defence for Patties Foods before the product leaves China. No container leaves China unless it has full microbiological compliance to FSANZ Standards, and we receive these test results to confirm this before shipment.
"Finally, we then sample test the same product arriving in shipping containers in accordance with the Food Import Compliance Agreement (FICA) requirements of the Australian Department of Agriculture, which requires that five per cent of product is tested.
“Patties Foods' documented test regime is amongst the highest, testing 20 per cent of all the containers when they arrive in Australia, which is well above the requirements,” Chaur said.
Chaur also noted that many Chinese food production facilities also supply European and Japanese food markets, and they also have extremely strict hygiene and quality standards.
“Despite public misconceptions, many Chinese food production facilities are at least as hygienic as those in Australia, and operate to similar regulatory compliance regimes.
"Having checked through all our quality control testing documentation back to June 2014, we are satisfied that this testing program through the global supply chain has not detected any biological indicators with any of our frozen berry products from China or other global sources that is not in line with Australian guidelines.”
Chaur said until the HAV results are formally known, it had stopped all further supply and production of its Nanna's Mixed Berries 1kg; Creative Gourmet Mixed Berries 300g and 500g packs; and Nanna's Raspberries 1kg from the suspected facilities in China.
He said Patties had also engaged a certified global food safety auditor to visit the Mixed Berry packing facilities to conduct a full food safety assessment before any further packing is undertaken.
"We have also taken the immediate step to now increase our sample testing to 100 per cent of all batches of our imported frozen berries from all countries, not just China, for any microbial and viral markers such as HAV,” Chaur said.
