Consumers who bought bags of frozen berries linked to a health scare will be able to get a refund from major supermarkets, as MPI tightens controls at the border, adding frozen fruit to its list of high-risk imported food products.
Fruzio Mixed Berries was last night identified by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) as a potential source of the Hepatitis A contamination scare. The mix of blackberries and strawberries comes in 500g and 1kg bags, with berries imported from China.
The product has been recalled, and anyone with Fruzio Mixed Berries in their freezer is advised to throw them out.
However, supermarket giant Foodstuffs -- which owns Pak'nSave and New World -- said today it would offer refunds to customers who returned the product to their stores.
"Should customers wish to receive a refund, our advice is to take the product back to the store it was purchased from and they will arrange a full refund," a spokeswoman said.
Countdown did not stock Fruzio berries, a spokeswoman said.
It comes as MPI and FSL Foods, which owns Fruzio, confirmed the Hepatitis A strain which has struck four people in New Zealand is the same strain which sparked a Hepatitis A scare in Australian berries earlier this year.
The strain, which originates in Asia, was linked to Nanna's berries in Australia in March, where at least 26 people fell ill with the disease.
Mike Glover, FSL Foods owner, said DNA testing had been done on the Hepatitis A strain found in the New Zealand patients, who had all eaten Fruzio Mixed Berries in the last 50 days.
"So what they've been able to identify is that Shandong and Jiangsu province is where the fruit came from, and those are the same provinces that the fruit came from in the Australia scare," he said, and where FSL Foods imports its berries from.
However, Mr Glover said he still had confidence in the region.
"All the facilities that we use, all of them are independently certified in food safety to the highest international standards, they supply all countries in the world, they supply the largest of the food processing and frozen fruit distributors in the world," Mr Glover said.
"Our product has been tested for Hep A, both on a random basis and a direct basis, our product is always tested for E. coli.
"If you asked me, having had less than 24 hours to think about this, would I change anything in the supply chain, I can tell you no."
Peter Thomson, director plants, food and environment at MPI, also confirmed the Hep A strain in New Zealand patients was the same as the one found in Australian berries.
"It doesn't mean it was the same contamination event. Multiple people could be carrying the same strain on different parts of supply chains. We haven't been able to nail that down yet, we're still working with Australia to look at what supply chain information they might have, to see if we can be more accurate."
Mr Thomson denied MPI had been slow to react to the frozen berry scare, saying he was "amazed we've been able to nail this down so fast".
"Having only had four Hep A cases and being able to link those together to a single food source of frozen imported berries on Monday, and then to be recalling a specific brand of product yesterday, I think we've done incredibly well."
He has not ruled out further recalls as the investigation continues.
MPI did not have fears over imported fruit and vegetables following the scare, Mr Thomson said.
"We've got a very good food safety system. Importers understand their responsibility to ensure that any food they do supply from overseas meets food safety standards," he said.
This was "evidenced by the infrequent nature of these kinds of events", he said.
However, the scare has prompted MPI to tighten restrictions on food imports.
"We've added frozen berries to the list of prescribed foods at the border that require testing, so that will be another level of assurance for the New Zealand public," he said.
As frozen berry products come through the border, they will "all be tested and cleared by a food safety officer", who will be testing for E. coli, which is an indicator of Hep A.
Mr Glover said FSL Foods was working hard to recall bags of the mixed berries, and he had taken the scare personally.
"I think I've been quoted as 'devastated' -- I can't think of words that can even get close to people understanding that I feel as though I've let a lot of people down, because we're a small family business."
Other Fruzio frozen fruit products were not affected, he said, and he had yet to decide whether to ditch his supplier in China.
He praised his "great staff" and "amazing team", and the customers who had been "generally understanding ... quite possibly even supportive".
The Ministry of Health said it did not hold information on the distribution of the Hepatitis A vaccine, so could not say whether the scare had prompted people to seek the jab.
A spokeswoman for Food Safety Minister Jo Goodhew referred questions to MPI.
