A brand of frozen berries sold at Costco yesterday tested positive for hepatitis A, the Kaohsiung Department of Health said.
The US last month reported that five people tested positive for hepatitis A, likely due to consuming store-bought frozen berries, after which a number of brands recalled their products from retailers.
The department yesterday said that on April 11 it asked Costco to remove frozen berries from its shelves as a preventive measure, and began sample inspections on five brands of frozen berry products.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration
After tests on the Kirkland Signature Three Berry Blend imported from Chile yesterday showed it was positive for hepatitis A virus, the department ordered the product to be removed and destroyed following legal procedures, the department said.
No cases of hepatitis A linked to the product have been reported, it said.
People who have purchased products from the same batch, which has an expiration date marked “2023/09/19,” can return it to Costco or call a service line at (02)449-9909 for more information, it said.
The department has asked hospitals and clinics to report cases possibly linked to the product, it said.
Food business operators should stop using, processing or selling the product, and they should report it on the Food Business Registration Web site or the Web sites of local health departments, it said.
The hepatitis A virus is mainly transmitted through the fecal-oral route through contaminated food or water, and has an incubation period of about 15 to 50 days, it said.
Common symptoms include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, vomiting, stomach pain and yellowing of the skin, it said, adding that most cases recover naturally and provide lifelong immunity.
People with chronic hepatitis and immunocompromised people are advised to get a hepatitis A vaccine within two weeks of consuming the product, it said.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: As authorities were busy with post-typhoon cleanups elsewhere, residents cleaned fallen leaves and cut small fallen trees blocking the hiking trails All hiking trails damaged by Typhoon Kong-rey have been repaired and has reopened for people who want a refreshing hike in Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday, a city official said. The Taipei Basin is known for its easily accessible hiking trails. It has more than 130 trails combined into the 92km-long Taipei Grand Trail, which was divided into seven major routes when it was launched by the Taipei City Government in 2018. Last year, a part of the sixth route of the Grand Trail collapsed due to Typhoon Kong-rey, which hit Taiwan in October. The damaged section belongs to one
RSS