There are now 22 South Australian schools and children’s centres, which include child care centres, on alert for possible cases of hepatitis A over the consumption of frozen berries.
Principals and directors have been contacting parents about the possible exposure.
Patties Foods recalled several Nanna’s and Creative Gourmet frozen berry products from supermarkets nationally with more than a dozen hepatitis A cases confirmed among people who consumed the products.
The suspect berries were imported with poor hygiene among workers and contaminated water supplies thought to be behind the contamination.
Among the SA centres where children or staff might have been exposed to risk are McKay Children’s Centre at Penola where children consumed smoothies, Warradale Primary School in Adelaide where berries were used in muffins, Wirreanda Secondary School where staff had muffins prior to the start of term and Port Augusta Secondary School where students ate pavlova.
Other centres where a risk has been identified include Millicent High School, Jamestown Community School and the town’s children’s centre, out-of-school care at Hendon Primary and Andamooka Primary where staff had cake containing berries.
A full list of identified sites in SA is available on the Department for Education and Child Development’s website.
The department said it was possible more sites would be added to the list in the days ahead.
Health authorities said there were no hepatitis cases in SA linked with berry consumption since the scare emerged.