Costco initiated recall of their frozen berries even if the FDA has not released the order yet.
The frozen berries manufactured by Costco have been a trending topic in various media channels as it allegedly caused hepatitis A in five states: Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, California, and Arizona. To date, 30 people were already infected.
The FDA, CDC, and the local state officials were working together to trace if it was really the frozen berries that have caused the disease. Each patient was interviewed and asked if they consumed frozen berries before they got sick. 11 out of 17 interviewed confirmed that they have taken it days ago.
The FDA has started their inspection on the farm where Costco gets its supply for the frozen berries as well as the processing facilities of the company in Fairview, Oregon. They took samples of the supplies and will have it subject to testing to see if it is infected with the hepatitis A virus. The results will be immediately announced to the public as soon as they have finalized it.
Meanwhile, Costco started doing recalls of the frozen berries to support the government in preventing the spread of the virus. They also posted in their website an update about the outbreak and advised consumers to discard unconsumed products and encouraged those who had consumed the product for the past two weeks to undergo vaccination as a preventive measure.
The disease that attacks the liver usually manifests itself two to six weeks after exposure so there is still a long window for those who have consumed the product. The mortality rate for hepatitis A is relatively low according to CDC which is less than 1 for every 1,000 infected but it can get a person sick up to six months before the virus dies on its own.
