Frozen berries

Muahahaha wrote: »

Think Ill just stop buying them as theres no point boiling them when you want to use them to cool down a smoothie.

The boil notice has been ongoing for several years now. Im wondering why the EU dont just give the order for manufactures to boil them before blast freezing them? Maybe that doesnt work or something, must be a reason behind it.

dastardly00 wrote: »

FSAI tweeted last week about the boil notice for imported frozen berries. First time it's been mentioned in a couple of years

https://twitter.com/FSAIinfo/status/1277985170814050304?s=20

Will retailers be displaying notices about the requirement to boil imported frozen berries?
Retailers selling imported frozen berries need to ensure that the berries they use are sourced from reputable suppliers operating effective food safety management systems and comprehensive traceability systems. As the food chain can be quite complex, it is necessary for food businesses at each stage of the food chain to seek assurances regarding the effectiveness of the food safety management systems in place from their suppliers. If such assurances are not available, the FSAI recommends that the retailer displays a notice advising customers that the frozen berries should be boiled for one minute before consumption.

Berries of all types are actually a common conduit for viruses, said Benjamin Chapman, a food-safety specialist and an associate professor at North Carolina State University. Over the past decade, there have been several virus outbreaks linked to imported berries, he said...


And once a berry is contaminated, it’s unlikely that the virus will be washed off, Chapman said. Because berries are more delicate than other fruits, they’re not washed as often, he said. They might be lightly sprayed or misted before being frozen, but that probably won’t remove a virus, he said. And berries have a lot of nooks and crannies on their surfaces, where viruses can hide, he added.

The next step, freezing the berries, only further preserves the virus, Chapman said. And because frozen berries are sold as “ready to eat,” people are unlikely to heat them before eating, he said. This is especially likely if the berries are being used to make a smoothie, as occurred in the current outbreak, he added.

Chapman said that he actually microwaves all of his berries before eating them or refreezing them, though he added that his method of heating them to above 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93 degrees C) might be overkill.

Still, there’s not enough data to suggest that just rinsing the berries would sufficiently remove a virus, he said..

murphyebass wrote: »

I would have assumed that it’s not just frozen berries, ie frozen fruit like mango and pineapple would fall into the same camp.

One of the reasons for this is that berries are very delicate, and so unlike other, hardier fruits and vegetables, berries need to be harvested by hand, Chapman told Live Science. [Top 7 Germs in Food that Make You Sick]

Tomatoes, for example, are machine-harvested, so no hands touch them, he said. But berries are too fragile for machines, so each berry is handpicked, he said.

Because hepatitis A is spread through the “fecal-to-oral route,” if workers picking berries were infected with hepatitis A and had not properly washed their hands, they could transfer the virus from their hands to the berry, Chapman said. In parts of the world where hepatitis A is more common, this is definitely a risk, he added.

s1ippy wrote: »

It should really be more highly publicised, it should be on the packet of berries.

tangy wrote: »

But how would you know? Were they analysed and found contaminated?

phormium wrote: »

Refreezing in that scenario is fine, you are cooking them so can refreeze no problem.