CDC: 122 people ill from Hepatitis A outbreak

Townsend Farms, Inc. of Fairview, Oregon is the source of the outbreak with its Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend frozen berry and pomegranate mix.

According to the label, the product contained pomegranate seeds and other produce from the US, Argentina, Chile and Turkey.

Cases affected​

54 (45%) ill people have been hospitalized but no deaths have been reported from the genotype 1B, said the CDC.

All those who reported eating the product purchased it from Costco markets; however, the product was also sold at Harris Teeter stores.

States affected are: Arizona (17 cases), California (62), Colorado (25), Hawaii (5), New Mexico (5), Nevada (5), Utah (2), and Wisconsin (1) [The one case reported from Wisconsin resulted from exposure to the product in California].

The CDC said as of 20 June, it is reporting on only confirmed case while the investigation remains ongoing, with illness onset dates range from 31 March to 15 June 2013​

71 (58%) of ill people are women, ages range from two – 84 years; 74 (61%) of those ill were between 40 – 64 years of age and five children under age 18 have been infected as part of this outbreak; of these, none were hospitalized, and none were previously vaccinated.

Scenic Fruit Company recall​

In a separate development, Scenic Fruit Company of Gresham, Oregon announced it is voluntarily recalling 5,091 cases (61,092 eight ounce bags) of Woodstock Frozen Organic Pomegranate Kernels.

Based on an ongoing epidemiological and traceback investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of an illness outbreak, the kernels have the potential to be contaminated with Hepatitis A virus.

No illnesses are currently associated with Woodstock Frozen Organic Pomegranate Kernels and product testing to date shows no presence of Hepatitis A virus in the product.

The company’s decision to recall products is made in response to an ongoing outbreak investigation by the FDA and CDC.

Products were shipped from February 2013 through May 2013 to UNFI distribution centers in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington State.

Woodstock Organic Pomegranate Kernels are sold in eight-ounce (227 gram) resealable plastic pouches and were imported from Turkey.

Hepatitis A in Europe​

Meanwhile, Hepatitis A virus has been in frozen berry mix from Italy, with raw material from Serbia, Ukraine via Austria, Bulgaria, Poland and Canada via Switzerland.

The notification came from Italy on 24 June about the frozen berry mix and the product has been recalled from consumers, according to the RASFF portal.