Costco has issued a recall of its frozen berry mixture amid fears the products may be contaminated with hepatitis A, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Wednesday.
Its recall comes just days after Kroger grocery stores recalled its similar Private Selection Triple Berry Medley.
So far, the potentially affected berries all came from manufacturer Townsend Farms, which informed Costco and Kroger its blackberries - used in both blends - may have been exposed to hepatitis A.
The contagious viral infection can cause liver inflammation and is typically transmitted when food comes into contact with contaminated fecal matter.
So far, no related illnesses have been reported.
Costco has recalled its own Kirkland rand berry medley after the manufacturer of the blackberries in the mix notified the wholesaler the berries may have been contaminated with hepatitis A, the FDA announced
Hepatitis A can be prevented, if those exposed have gotten vaccinated against the virus.
But in recent years it has been on the rise in the US - exponentially so, in fact.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hepatitis A outbreaks used to be a once-in-a-decade occurrence.
Between 2016 and 2018, however, cases of hepatitis A surged by 300 percent in the US.
Concerns over hepatitis A contaminations have been reported for frozen pomegranates in Australia, candies in the US, as well as at a number of restaurants and venues, including a Florida country club and Dunkin' Donuts, in addition to packaged food manufacturing facilities like Townsend Farms.
Because hepatitis A is typically passed through fecal matter, transmissions most often happen when people unintentionally ingest stool from an infected person, have anal
