The number of cases of Hepatitis A linked to the consumption of frozen berries imported from China has climbed to at least 14.
Thirty-four government schools have advised the Victorian Education Department that some of their students have consumed berries that have been recalled because of the hepatitis A imported frozen berry scare.
The number of schools affected suggests that potentially hundreds of students ate berries from one of four lines of frozen berries before they were recalled in recent days by Bairnsdale-based food company Patties Foods. The berry products were recalled because of a link between the consumption of Nanna’s brand frozen mixed berries, and the development of hepatitis A in consumers.
The berries eaten in Victorian schools were consumed in food prepared by secondary students as part of their studies, or in snacks bought from the school canteen. Most of the schools involved were secondary schools. The schools have advised parents about what has happened, and no students have reported illness.
The Education Department also sent circulars to school principals at all government schools this week with advice, based on the health advice issued by the state’s chief health officer, Rosemary Lester. The circulars also encouraged principals to investigate whether their students had been using any of the berries involved in the food recall.
Confirmation that potentially hundreds of Victorian school students have eaten the recalled frozen berries came as the number of hepatitis A cases linked to the consumption of Nanna’s brand frozen mixed berries rose to 14, with new cases reported on Wednesday in New South Wales and Western Australia. There are now five cases in New South Wales, five in Queensland, three in Victoria and one in Western Australia. Health authorities expect the numbers to climb further.
In all cases the people diagnosed with Hepatits A reported that they had eaten berries from one kilogram packets of Nanna’s frozen mixed berries. Patties Foods issued a nationwide voluntary product recall of the product last Friday.
Pressure ramped up further on Wednesday for Australia to adopt tighter food labelling laws. But Prime Minister Tony Abbott appeared to reject a complete overhaul of testing and labelling regulations, saying it was the responsibility of businesses “not to poison their customers”.
Mr Abbott said any review of food labels would have to be a “balancing act” that did not impose unnecessary burdens on business.
His comments came as Greens Leader Christine Milne urged the major parties to support a bill that would simplify Australia’s country of origin food labels, which both the Greens and consumer groups such as Choice have described as confusing.
In other developments in the hepatitis A food scare on Wednesday;
* Australia’s packaged food health standards and packaged food labelling system was branded a “disgrace” by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union.
* Simon Talbot, the chief executive officer of the National Farmers Federation, said Australian consumers were not recognising that when they bought cheap, imported frozen food, that it was not grown and made under the same stringent health and hygiene standards as Australian produce.
* Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey said that after “inquiry after inquiry” on country-of-origin labelling laws it was “time for action”.
Mr Talbot also said that an imported food contamination scare like the one evolving now, was “bound to happen.”
He said: “We’ve got a whole generation of Australians, they’ve grown up being quite used to a lot of foreign-made products, and accepting that they’re fine, it’s all good, nothing bad has ever happened. And what I can say is that this was bound to happen at some stage, because people just do not actually understand where their food comes from. Or understand that the scientific and regulatory and quality processes that we have in this country are world’s best practice and they’re world’s best practice for a reason – to stop this kind of thing from happening.”
He said it was “quite frustrating” that while Australian consumers were not inclined to pay a premium for high quality and safe Australian-grown food, other nations that imported Australian food were happy to.
“I hate to see these sort of events occur, but it does showcase that our standards that we apply in this country, in the legal, regulatory and traceability system, are not the same standards that exist in many other parts of the world.,” he said.
Gary Dowse, from the Western Australia Department of Health, said an adult female had become the state’s first person diagnosed with hepatitis A linked to the imported frozen berries. The woman is understood to have consumed the berries in January, after buying them in a Perth supermarket.
“We now have a West Australian resident, from Perth, who’s been diagnosed with hepatitis A and has confirmed that they do not have any other significant exposure risk factors, other than eating the Nanna’s brand of fresh frozen berries,” Dr Dowse said.
“Given the incubation period for Hepatitis A is two to seven weeks and the product was in the marketplace until the recall, there’s a distinct possibility that there will be more people out there now who are incubating the infection and could become sick over coming weeks. We’re all just waiting and watching really,” he said.