When it comes to strawberries, you think about strawberry jam, strawberry ice cream, strawberry milkshakes, etc., but you surely don’t think about Hepatitis A. Unfortunately, recent occurrences have led scientists to believe that strawberries might be linked to Hepatitis A. The Food and Drug Administration has shifted its focus to investigating two kinds of brands that sell organic strawberries that are then sold in major supermarkets in the United States of America to be linked with Hep. A. This shocking news has everyone worried, and rightly so!
What Is Hepatitis A?
Before you jump into the details, you should know what you are dealing with. Hepatitis A is a liver infection that enters the body through the fecal-oral route. This means that if you consume food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, it can be transmitted to you. Hepatitis A has some telltale signs which indicate whether a patient might have it or not, such as yellow skin or eyes, loss of appetite, upset stomach, vomiting, stomach ache, dark-colored urine, joint pain, lethargy, and diarrhea. There is a vaccine for Hepatitis A, but if you are infected, the chances are that your doctor will recommend a proper, nutritious diet that’d include lots of fluid intake.
What Happened?
Recently, 17 people were affected, and 12 of them were hospitalized in Canada and two states of the United States of America due to potentially tainted strawberries sold under the H-E-B and FreshKampo brand. In a statement released by the FDA, it mentioned that the investigation surrounding the cause of the outbreak in cases found in Minnesota, California, and Canada discovered that they all had one thing in common: they had purchased fresh organic strawberries branded under FreshKampo and H-E-B before they were diagnosed with Hepatitis A. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and the Public Health Agency of Canada are conducting the investigation.
Where Were These Strawberries Sold?
The suspected strawberries are sold at some of the biggest supermarkets such as WinCo Foods, Weis Markets, Sprouts Farmers Market, Safeway, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, Aldi, and H-E-B. While the FDA hasn’t disclosed the strawberries’ origins or where they were grown, according to Mexico-based FreshKampo, their organic strawberries are grown in areas like Michoacan, Guanajuato, Mexico, Morocco, and Baja California.
FDA’s Warning
Due to the severity of the situation, FDA has warned consumers, restaurants, and other retailers not to purchase, serve, consume, or sell any organic strawberries from these two brands, especially if they were manufactured from 5th march to 25th April 2022.
This goes to show that just because something is organic, it is healthy and safe for consumption.
