Federal officials have confirmed that the strain of hepatitis A virus found in frozen organic strawberries involved in a multi-state outbreak this year is the same strain that caused an outbreak in 2022.
The organic strawberries associated with both outbreaks were imported to the United States from the same growing area in Baja California, Mexico, according to an outbreak update from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
So far this year there have been seven people confirmed infected and all seven reported eating frozen organic strawberries. Two of the patients required hospitalization.
FDA’s traceback investigation identified a common supplier of frozen organic strawberries, but Tuesday’s update did not name the supplier. Both this year and in 2022 the implicated strawberries were sold at a variety of stores under several different brand names.
FoodWorld 