The person involved was in hospital yesterday being monitored and is expected to be discharged. The person is an overseas worker, and public health officials believe they had the illness before entering New Zealand.
A risk assessment has been undertaken by the Public Health Service and MAF food safety officials, and although the risk that any fruit affected is extremely low, Zespri has taken the proactive and precautionary measure of containing any fruit that may have come into contact with the affected worker.
Zespri has a highly sophisticated supply chain with quality traceability systems, which has enabled the company to quickly identify the location of fruit and isolate it.
As a result, about 100,000 trays of export kiwifruit have been withdrawn from the supply chain and options to dispose of it are being worked through. This represents less than 0.1% of exports, as this year Zespri expects to export over 100m trays of kiwifruit.
Source: Zespri
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024