Germany has detected the hepatitis A virus in a frozen mixture of berries from Serbia, announced RASFF, the European system for rapid alert and information on food.

This virus causes viral hepatitis type A, i.e. infectious jaundice type A.

Pathogenic microorganisms were found during official market control in a sample taken on April 20.

The risk to health is considered serious, since already the product has also been withdrawn from the market for consumers.

This is not the first time that the hepatitis A virus has been found in frozen fruit from Serbia.

According to RASFF data, the same thing happened on July 10, 2025, when Germany again found the same virus in frozen fruit with berries from Serbia, as well as in August 2022, when the hepatitis A virus was found in a frozen fruit product from Belgium, with Serbia listed as one of the four countries of origin of the fruit.

Viral hepatitis A is an infectious jaundice of type A.

The reservoir of infection, according to the Public Health Institute of Serbia “Dr. Milan Jovanović Batut”, is a person as a patient with a typical or atypical clinical picture. The causative agent is found in feces, blood and bile, and less often in the urine of patients.

The main route of transmission is direct contact, which is achieved through hands contaminated with feces containing the hepatitis A virus. Also, the infection is transmitted through indirect contact, contaminated objects for personal or general use.

The infection is most often transmitted through contact in the family, in preschool and school institutions, as well as in institutions for people with mental retardation.

Source: prizrenpost