100 per cent screening will now apply to frozen berries from factories in China linked to the Australian Hepatitis A incident.
In an update on berry imports and Hepatitis A issued yesterday by the Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce and Assistant Minister for Health, Fiona Nash, this 100 per cent screening will include testing for Hepatitis A indicators.
All frozen berries from the facilities linked to the outbreak were previously being held, according to the ministers, and now berries from these facilities would be subject to 100 per cent testing at the border.
In addition, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has provided interim advice upgrading the suspect frozen berries to “medium risk” following a request by the Department of Agriculture last week to review the risk status.
According to the ministers, comprehensive testing of these berry products was currently being carried out with early results expected this week.
“Australian officials from our Department of Agriculture are on the ground working with the Chinese authorities on this matter,” they said.
The Department of Agriculture said it has also sought information on supply chains from all importers of frozen berries from China.
The Chinese Government has also carried out initial inspections of the packing facility implicated in the outbreak and has taken swabs for microbiological testing.
Additionally, and as part of the Department of Agriculture’s request, FSANZ will continue its broader and rigorous scientific assessment of the risk status of frozen berries from around the globe, which is expected to take some weeks.
Also, Australia’s Chief Medical Officer has advised that an estimated 1 per cent infection rate for people eating these berries is a “very conservative upper limit” which could be revised downwards as experts continue to examine all the data.
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service has now advised that people who have eaten the berries can continue to give blood so long as they are not sick.
Patties Foods, meanwhile, is bracing for an impact on the voluntary berry recall to its bottom line.
The company this week reported a net profit of $8.2 million in the six months to December 31, a decline of 6.1 per cent from the previous corresponding half.
"The net potential impact of the voluntary frozen berries recall is impossible to ascertain at this early stage, although it is possible that ultimately the impact could prove to be material," the company said.
