Frozen Berries Recalled Due to Hepatitis A

frozen-berries If you are pregnant and shop at Costco or Harris Teeter, check your  freezer for frozen fruit. DO NOT eat the frozen mixed berries called, “Organic Antioxidant Blend.” Townsend Farms has issued a recall of it’s product due to an outbreak of Hepatitis A that is linked to the frozen fruit.

Five states have had at least 34 Hepatitis A infections, Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado and New Mexico.

Although rare, a baby can get Hepatitis A from it’s infected mother and it can affect the baby’s liver and can cause pregnancy complications such as a premature birth.

Symptoms of Hepatitis A include jaundice or yellowing of the skin, dark urine, fatigue, and pale looking stool. If you suspect you have been exposed to Hepatitis A, a liver function test can make a positive diagnosis.

It can take as long as 50 days after exposure from an infected person or as little as 15 days to contract the illness.

If you think you have been around someone with Hepatitis A, contact your physician immediately since complications can occur in pregnancy, although unlikely. Still it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Cathy Wilson, a 58-year old San Diego resident, has filed suit against Costco and Townsend Farms, according to legal documents. She said that she had been eating the frozen berries four times a week and had purchased them at Costco.

Wilson said she’s tired all the time, shaky and hasn’t been able to work for a month. What makes things even more difficult is the fact that she is the caregiver for her elderly mother who has Altheimer’s and is afraid that she has been afraid that her illnesses will make her mother sick and that she has purposely stayed away.  She says that she is now too weak to even drive.

This is the second case Wilson’s attorney has filed in the frozen berries case.

UPDATE:  Seven states are now reporting Hepatitis A illnesses from “Organic Antioxidant Blend”.  Those states are; California, Colorado, Arizona, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah

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