This mum has been living in fear since the recall was announced.
I have been feeling sick and angry and afraid since Saturday.
That was when I first saw that Nanna’s frozen berries had been blamed for a number of hepatitis A cases. The same brand of frozen berries that my son and I eat every day.
We eat lots of fresh fruit too, but the frozen berries have become a staple for us. They’re convenient. He loves eating them frozen. And every time I fed him the frozen berries, I felt good. I felt like I was making him healthy and strong. Now I realise I’ve been exposing him to a potentially deadly disease. That makes me feel sick.
It doesn't help that I have been suffering with some kind of vomiting/nausea virus recently, and on Saturday my son started showing the same symptoms. I don't know if it's hep A. I have just had a blood test to find out.
The chances are that we don't have hep A, but I still feel afraid. People do die from hepatitis A. People do end up needing liver transplants. It's usually not as serious in kids, but you never know.
What makes me angry is that frozen berries have been linked to outbreaks of hepatitis A quite recently. In 2013, at least 158 people in the US came down with hep A after eating imported frozen fruit. There was also a Europe-wide outbreak of hep A and berries were suspected. Last year, people in Ireland were being advised to boil any imported frozen berries before eating them.
I had no idea. Would I have stopped buying frozen berries if I had known? Possibly. Could the Australian company behind Nanna's have been doing more to make its product safer?
The other thing that I'm questioning is why most kids aren't vaccinated for hep A. Hep B, yes, hep A, no. In Australia, it's only recommended for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in high-risk areas.
But if the government isn't doing enough to stop contaminated food being imported into Australia, shouldn't they protect our kids against the possible consequences? In the US, the hep A vaccine is recommended for all children.
I follow all the rules about washing fresh fruit and storing food properly in the fridge and reheating leftovers thoroughly. I never thought that if my kids got sick from eating food, it would be from frozen berries.
I just didn't see them as a risky food. Now I do. But it's a bit late.
All I can do is wait and see.
Have you eaten any of the frozen berries?
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