Ten ill people report to Albert Heijn after recall of hepatitis-contaminated blueberries
At least ten people have reported to Albert Heijn because they had fallen ill after eating blueberries the supermarket chain recalled on Tuesday. A batch of 1-kilogram bags of frozen blueberries, sold under Albert Heijn’s house brand, is contaminated with hepatitis A.
Twelve people have already been diagnosed with the disease, two of whom had to be hospitalized, the RIVM reported. A spokesperson for the public health institute told NL Times that several hundred people have likely already been infected but haven’t been to the doctor yet, or their infection hadn’t been linked to the recall.
“As of 9:30 p.m. last evening, ten people have reported being ill,” an Albert Heijn spokesperson told ANP on Wednesday morning. “We treat every report we receive with the utmost care.” She couldn’t say whether the affected customers were claiming damages.
Albert Heijn has also received questions about the recall from around 2,000 customers, the spokesperson added. They wanted to know whether they could return their bag of blueberries for a refund, among other things.
The contaminated blueberries come from Poland. The Albert Heijn spokesperson said the supermarket chain is still investigating how the contamination could have happened and has removed all 1-kilogram bags of blueberries from the shelves in the meantime. Frozen blueberries in mixed bags of fruit are not contaminated because they come from a different source, the supermarket chain said.
