The Health Ministry says Taiwan will halt imports of Costco’s frozen berries until after concluding the investigation into hepatitis A virus found in the produce. That came from deputy Health Minister Wang Pi-sheng (王必勝) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Wu Shou-mei (吳秀梅) at a press conference on Wednesday.
Hepatitis A virus was found in frozen berries of the Kirkland Signature brand at Costco in late April. Wu says they have asked Costco to recall all of their frozen berries on May 5.
The FDA is currently testing 59 bags of berries and returned 11 negative tests of the virus. She says they are still testing the remaining samples. Wang says they hope the investigation will reveal the source of the issue to address the problem.
Meanwhile, the ministry received criticism for their delayed response. The press conference was held more than 10 days after the discovery of the contagious virus in the frozen products.