Packs of mixed berries are being removed from supermarket shelves and the public are advised to dump any suspect brands they have in their freezers because of a health scare. Several Australians have contracted Hepatitis A and this has been traced back to contamination in mixed packs of Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries imported into this country.
Hepatitis A can be fatal but it is expected that our health system will result in full recoveries. This incident has thrown the spotlight on food standards that apply in countries exporting food to Australia. Where Hepatitis A is involved the cause is usually sewage coming into contact with the food or a person infected with the disease being involved with it's preparation.
In this instance, the source was from China and it seems that the various berry components were grown in different parts of the country and shipped to a central point where they were collated, processed and packed. This will make it hard to specifically discover where the hygiene breakdown occurred.
It is quite possible that in a country as vast and as populous as China old farming methods may still be used in remote areas. In past centuries it was quite common to use both human and animal waste untreated to nourish crops. Just a single farm growing one of these berries could be responsible for their small input contaminating a vast amount of export food being mixed together at a central point - and it also only takes one person infected with Hepatitis A involved in food processing to do similar damage.
That is one of the risks that come with globalization. Our diet has expanded and both air transport and freezing products have freed us from the restrictions of seasonal crops. We now draw a continuous supply because it is always peak growing season somewhere in the world and global trade encourages exports to balance economies.
Considering the contribution made to the world food supply from small farming communities in Asia and the remote parts of Europe and South America, it is remarkable that similar forms of contamination are not happening more frequently. This incident will be a serious embarrassment to the Chinese government and they can be expected to back track the supply chain to find and eliminate the problem. It is likely that this scare will result in a sharp drop in the sale of all forms of berries here in the short term - and probably take many months to recover. It is also likely that the contaminated product has been distributed more widely than just Australia, and the implications on the brand names involved could be terminal.
In this instance Hepatitis A has passed to a mere handful of people and the source was quickly identified. The public was warned when it became the prime item on the national news and it was quickly withdrawn from sale across the nation. That will eliminate risk from the main supermarket chains, but there is still a chance that it will escape detection in some of the small grocery stores scattered across the country. In some cases their proprietors do not speak English - and may be unaware of the recall.
From a security point of view, it would be ideal if the sales records of all foodstuffs from distributors to even the smallest retailer could be instantly available to the health people in an emergency. It is well within the capability of computer programmers to isolate a particular brand and pack size and nominate where and when that item was sold.
It is unlikely that anyone will die from this Hepatitis A contamination, but should something instantly deadly slip through the safety net - and warrant forcible seizure by the health authorities - that list of where sales have occurred would be critical. Having that information in place would be a timely precaution - because accidents do happen !
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