Are you eating contaminated fruit?
I've bought frozen fruit quite a few times recently. It’s often far cheaper than the fresh equivalent, and it’s far less wasteful, since I don’t eat a lot of fruit. In the summer it’s great for a quick frozen dessert too.
So I’ve been horrified to read about the recent contamination recall on frozen mixed berries. Apparently certain packs have been recalled due to a potential Hepatitis A contamination. It hasn't been long since the horse meat scandal, but this seems so much worse, since the only ingredient in these packs is the fruit. With the hose meat contamination, it seemed to be mainly in heavily processed foods.
With illness starting up to 28 days after exposure to the Hepatitis virus, it may not even be clear yet how widespread the issue is. The official advice is now to boil berries before eating – but really, who does this?
The other shocker with this latest recall, is that the fruit in question is from China and Chile. I meticulously check where any fish and seafood I buy comes from, but had naively assumed the fruit would be domestic.
It really begs the question how can the contaminate have got into the product in the first place? Contamination often seems to occur through transfer of fecal matter from an infected person. Unbelievable that in this day and age of health and safety standards that could happen.
After hearing about this latest scare, I'm going to freeze my own fruit from now on. It’s going to be local fruit, washed and organic. It seems to be the only way to ensure you actually know what you’re eating.
I wonder what the next food scare will be?
