Was Hepatitis A Warning Too Late in Virginia?

Was a warning sent out Aug. 19 by the Virginia Health Department about a possible link between strawberry smoothies and Hepatitis A too little, too late?

As of Tuesday, 70 cases of Hepatitis A linked to smoothies consumed at Tropical Smoothies Cafe have been reported in Virginia; many of those who were ill were hospitalized, the health department reported.

Tropical Smoothie Cafes say they pulled frozen strawberries imported from Egypt as soon as they were notified by the Virginia Health Department. "On August 5th, the Virginia Department of Health notified us that there was a potential link between some frozen strawberries from Egypt and foodborne illnesses in Virginia," the smoothie chain said in an announcement released Thursday.

Even then, according to Tropical Smoothie Cafes, "we were advised by the Virginia Department of Health that removing the strawberries was not necessary..." The chain has 96 restaurants in Virginia.

The Virginia health department did not notify the public about the potential risk until two weeks later, on Friday, Aug. 19, stating that if anyone had consumed a strawberry smoothie from Tropical Smoothie Cafe between Aug. 5-8, they could get a vaccination two weeks after consuming the smoothie. The warning, issued just before the weekend, likely left some scrambling to arrange to get the vaccine within the window of time advised by the health department.

Why did it take the health department two weeks to warn the public about the potential link between the smoothies and Hepatitis A?

"The foodborne disease investigation process is multi-disciplinary and complex," said Matthew LiPani, Central Region Public Information Officer, Office of Risk Communication and Education, Virginia Department of Health, in an email Tuesday to Patch.

"From the beginning, VDH has been engaged in looking at case information, food histories, patient interviews, food distribution chains, food handling practices, laboratory data, etc. in order to define the risk to the public," he said. "As has been done in past food-related outbreaks, VDH issued a press release as soon as possible at the time the investigation provided enough information to define who are at risk of the disease and the steps needed to be taken."

Others say that Tropical Smoothie Cafes and health officials who knew about the link between the smoothies and Hepatitis A should have acted more quickly.

“It just seems pretty clear that they thought, in early August, that it was strawberries from Egypt (served by Tropical Smoothie Café) making people sick, and they didn’t say anything to people,” attorney William D. Marler, with the Seattle-based food safety law firm Marler Clark LLP, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Marler is among a group of attorneys who have been in contact with more than 100 potential clients considering filing lawsuits against Tropical Smoothie Café, the newspaper reported.

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