Clarifying the Evidence Linking Hepatitis A Outbreaks to Imported Strawberries

The available epidemiologic, microbiological, and traceback evidence does not conclusively establish that the implicated strawberries were contaminated with HAV or that contamination occurred at a farm in Mexico. HAV RNA was not detected in the tested strawberry samples, and the environmental findings did not provide sequence confirmation. Therefore, the country of origin should be distinguished from the actual location of contamination.

Published in Journal of Food Protection. The abstract is shown as published and remains the work of its authors; read the full article at the source.

doi.org/10.1016/j.jfp.2026.100937