Are frozen berries ok to eat again?

kaji

I remember there was a warning on frozen berries last year, somthing to do wit Hep. C? Does anyone know if they're ok to eat now?

Greenmachine

Good question I imagine boiling them ruins the quality.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=89647421&postcount=77

:pac:

Conclusion is we don't know

mcballer

Give the FSAI a ring. They have a Monday to Friday telephone line for public. I'm a student and visited at their premises and they have designated people to answer public questions and were super nice and friendly and open to helping public with food safety information!

JimsAlterEgo

mcballer wrote: »

Give the FSAI a ring. They have a Monday to Friday telephone line for public. I'm a student and visited at their premises and they have designated people to answer public questions and were super nice and friendly and open to helping public with food safety information!

wasnt iy only blueberries from a certain region?

rubadub

JimsAlterEgo wrote: »

wasnt iy only blueberries from a certain region?

I never heard that, heard any berries.

The problem is that they are frozen, so could be in long term storage for years to come.

CeannRua

I contacted the FSAI to ask. The advice to boil frozen berries for a minute before eating is still in place.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

kind of defeats the point of getting frozen berries then

mcballer

Saw the warning signs again in lidl today about boiling. Though no sign in tesco by the Boland's frozen berries there. Hmm are Boland's frozen Irish berries...or just imported like others I wonder!!

CeannRua

mcballer wrote: »

Saw the warning signs again in lidl today about boiling. Though no sign in tesco by the Boland's frozen berries there. Hmm are Boland's frozen Irish berries...or just imported like others I wonder!!

Not familiar with Boland's. Do you mean Boylan's? There's an old thread here that says they're imported. I looked at the time the warning came out first and couldn't find a company whose frozen berries are 100% Irish.

mcballer

Haahaa thanks Yep boylans that's the one. Grr boiling them renders them useless for what I'd want them for. Just gotta stump up and get fresh. And freeze if I want them for frozen delights!

kaji

Thanks Ceann Rua for making the phonecall!

rubadub

I imagine the FSAI will be overcautious, as I said stuff could be in storage for years to come.

So an idea would be to ring the people themselves, like boylans. Though they might not know how long stores store them.

http://barfblog.com/2014/03/linked-to-global-frozen-fruit-outbreak-28-cases-of-hepatitis-a-infection-reported-in-norway/

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Doug Powell
A total of 28 cases of hepatitis A infection has been reported over the last few months in Norway, where this disease is said to be rare, the Norwegian news Agency NTB reported Saturday, quoting public health officials.

In almost half of the cases, the patients were found to have infected with hepatitis A virus while travelling abroad.

The remaining half got infected in Norway, which was described as a rare occurrence.

Last year there was an outbreak of hepatitis A in the Nordic countries, which was believed to be most likely caused by eating imported frozen berries.

Norwegian health authorities suspect the new outbreak in Norway is also caused by eating contaminated food.

bullvine

I have been buying the Dunnes own brand ones for a couple of months, to be honest I wasn't aware of this warning. The dunnes ones say packed in Ireland but I'd say they are imported as well.

jtthom

Haven't bought these in a year or so. Take it that they're still not safe to eat?

dastardly00

jtthom wrote: »

Haven't bought these in a year or so. Take it that they're still not safe to eat?

I've been eating either frozen strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries most days of the week for the last few months. They have either been Boylan's, or from Dunnes or Tesco.

I asked my sister who is an Environmental Health Officer with the HSE and her own personal opinion is that it is extremely difficult for the FSAI to make any link between any Hep A cases and imported frozen berries. And that the FSAI were naturally overcautious.

My own rationale for still eating frozen berries is that if they were dangerous/infected, then we would be hearing about this on the news a lot more!

USD Inflation Swap

Any update on this, is it safe to eat frozen berries yet?

fits

The advice here in Finland is to boil imported berries eg from poland, but locally grown berries are fine. I put them in with the porridge.

AnimalChin

I just started eating them again.....

...have I made a horrifying error!?!

Edit, just saw dastardly's post...which makes me feel a bit better!

whiskeyman

https://www.fsai.ie/faqs/berries_hepatitis_a.html

This was updated last Sept, and still advises to boil frozen berries

aiidee

I have been using them directly from freezer to make smoothies in blender for my kids.
Just came across this thread now am concerned. Any ideas is this OK to do? thanks

dastardly00

AnimalChin wrote: »

Edit, just saw dastardly's post...which makes me feel a bit better!

I stopped buying frozen berries when the FSAI made the latest update to the page on their website last September :pac:

I had been eating frozen berries up until then (without boiling them) even though I was aware of the advice from FSAI.

I now buy fresh berries (raspberries, blackberries and blueberries) in Lidl a couple of times per week. The price is lower in Lidl than in other supermarkets and the quality is good in my opinion. It still costs a lot more than just buying frozen berries though. I miss not buying frozen strawberries as the fresh (imported) strawberries in supermarkets these days are absolutely rank