15 November 2016

Hepatitis A spread by strawberries in margaritas

Strawberries at three El Paso County restaurants have been connected to a multistate hepatitis A outbreak... strawberries used in margaritas at the restaurants... may have been contaminated with the virus.

Health officials say anyone who ate or drank strawberries at the restaurants should receive hepatitis A vaccinations.

Health officials have connected more than 100 hepatitis A cases to frozen strawberries imported from Egypt since Jan. 1.
Everyone knows to wash commercially-purchased strawberries before eating them, but who would suspect strawberries in margaritas not having been washed.

And it's a strange world we live in where it's cheaper to import strawberries from Egypt than it is to grow them in this country.

4 comments:

  1. Unfortunately washing doesn't eliminate risk of contamination.

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  2. Garnishes in bars are seldom washed. That lemon slice has been marinating in an unclean bowl all night long.

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  3. The website Food Safety News has been giving updates on the Hepatitis A outbreak but I didn't know about Colorado Springs also being affected. Strawberries in season in the US seem so not so expensive to freeze and store. With Egypt having such a large population it must import food it seems strange that they are exporting some foodstuffs.

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  4. In 2013 summer I had a friend coming to visit in Mexico and his doctor suggested a Hep A vaccination. I thought, "WTF?" and looked up outbreaks in Mexico. They were almost non-existent, while the USA had had a handful. Three of the outbreaks had ONE US importer of strawberries involved, whose name I can't remember now. The conclusion of the investigation was - somehow - that it was Mexican strawberries, which was a crock. NO investigation of the cleanliness of the US importer's facilities was undertaken and no actual evidence pointing to the Mexican strawberries was presented. I honestly would suggest that the US importer bought off the investigators.

    I'd be very interested in hearing which importer handled those Egyptian strawberries.

    ReplyDelete

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