Frozen Berries: This Temperature Protects Against Norovirus and Hepatitis

The danger posed by viruses in frozen berries is often underestimated because we have saved fruit as healthy. However, you should be careful with frozen fruit and take the warning from the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety seriously.

Health hazards from noroviruses and hepatitis in frozen berries

Of course, the best is the fresh organic berries from our own garden. When the berry season is over or you don’t have a garden, frozen berries are a good alternative.

• The temptation to hold the delicious fruit under running water for just a short time after defrosting and then enjoy it right away is of course great. However, this approach involves considerable risks.
• As reported by the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, frozen berries are often contaminated and therefore a health hazard.
• Contaminated means that frozen berries contaminated with germs and viruses have often been discovered in the past. It was often frozen fruit from abroad. Chinese and Serbian frozen fruit in particular attracted attention due to pathogens.
• If the contaminated frozen berries end up in canteens, canteens, retirement homes, or kindergartens, several hundred people are quickly affected by the pathogens.

Frozen fruit with norovirus and hepatitis – that’s the only protection

According to the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety, frozen berries are contaminated with dangerous pathogens such as norovirus and hepatitis A viruses.

• Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. Symptoms of hepatitis include yellowing of the skin.
• Hepatitis A is transmitted by the fecal-oral virus. Experts suspect that the contamination of frozen fruit is caused by poor hygiene during harvest and contaminated irrigation water.
• The norovirus triggers severe gastrointestinal diseases and can be life-threatening – especially for people who are already affected or the elderly, as well as children.
• Of course, not all frozen berries are affected. Food that is harmful to health is often discovered in good time and withdrawn from the market. But exceptions prove the rule – so you should play it safe; especially since you can’t tell from the berries that they are contaminated.
• The Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety generally recommends heating the frozen fruit to over 90 degrees for a few minutes so that the pathogens are killed. It is important that the temperature is at least 90 degrees, as the germs easily survive minus 20 to 60 degrees.
• Incidentally, the precautionary measure only applies to frozen fruit. With the organic berries from your garden, it is usually sufficient to briefly rinse the fruit.