The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday said that it would on June 20 hold a review of Costco’s latest report on tainted berries, which includes four measures to reduce risks of contamination.
A package of Costco’s frozen mixed berries imported from Chile tested positive for the hepatitis A virus in April. Early last month, another package of its frozen blueberries imported from the US also tested positive, prompting the FDA to recall the products, temporarily suspend imports of Costco’s frozen berries and launch an expanded test on frozen berry products on the market.
Tests on 77 items were completed, resulting in one positive and 76 negative, FDA Southern Center Director Wei Jen-ting (魏任廷) said yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
The positive case was another package of Costco’s frozen strawberries imported from Mexico, which the FDA reported on May 17.
The FDA had asked Costco to submit a report explaining the sources of the hepatitis A virus contamination and its plans for improvement by Wednesday last week, or its imports of frozen berry imports would remain suspended.
Costco submitted a 900-page report by the deadline, and the FDA has forwarded the report to its food safety and nutrition advisory council for review, Wei said.
The council is to hold a meeting on June 20 to discuss the report, he added.
As part of its probe into the possible sources of contamination, Costco said in the report that it had conducted investigations at its farms, cold storage plants and packaging factories, and examined how the berries were picked, the water quality, workers’ health management, the production process, storage and transportation, he said.
Costco also proposed four major measures to reduce the risk of hepatitis A virus contamination, Wei said.
They are: improving workers’ health management, enhancing supervision on qualified ingredient suppliers and factories to ensure good hygiene practices and water quality; tightening hygiene requirements for workers who are exposed to the berries; and conducting batch-by-batch testing of products for hepatitis A before they leave the factories.
Asked what part of the production procedure was contaminated, FDA Director-General Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) said the issue is complicated, so specialists on the advisory council would review and discuss it carefully, as it would determine whether Costco could resume its frozen berry imports.
The FDA will publish the results as soon as possible if the council forms a conclusion at the meeting, Wu said.
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