As you may be aware, there has been a recent issue in New Zealand with some frozen berries being recalled as a precaution while investigation is ongoing into the source of to-date 21 linked Hepatitis A cases.

Growing healthy and safe food is central to our values at ViBERi. Besides organic and farm-to-table principles, we also have over a decade of experience in producing and testing frozen berry packs to meet rigorous safety standards.

ViBERi would like to reassure our customers that while we do import some redcurrants and blueberries, our berries are not of concern, nor included in the recall. All our blackcurrants are grown on our own orchard in South Canterbury, New Zealand, where Hepatitis A is virtually unheard of.

Though we would like to personally grow all the berries we sell, or at least source domestically, we have faced a supply shortfall for our SuperBeri mix, which is comprised of blackcurrants, redcurrants and blueberries. All our blackcurrants in our SuperBeri mix and our regular 350gm Organic Blackcurrants packs are grown here on our farm in South Canterbury, and we also grow a small amount of redcurrants. Redcurrants and blackcurrants are, further, both mechanically harvested, which reduces the risk of contact with Hepatitis A.

We have contacted the supplier of our imported blueberries and redcurrants and received test results showing that these berries are certified as meeting the requirements of Global Standard for Food Safety.

In all cases, we recommend following government updates and advice regarding the consumption of imported frozen berries.

As always, feel free to get in touch anytime. We'd love to hear from you!