If You Bought This Fruit at Walmart, Trader Joe's or These Other Stores, You Need to Read This Scary Warning

Summer is here and fresh berries are one of the main flavors of the season. Unfortunately, if you bought one variety at a handful of grocery stores nationwide, the pack may be tied to an outbreak of Hepatitis A that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating.

Packs of FreshKampo and H-E-B brand organic strawberries sold between March 5 and April 25, 2022, at stores like Kroger, Walmart, Trader Joe's, ALDI, Safeway, H-E-B, Sprouts Farmers Market, Weis Markets, and WinCo Foods. The FDA says these are potentially linked to 12 hospitalizations and 17 total illnesses in an update posted on May 28.

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A majority of the illnesses have been in California, with one in Minnesota, and one in North Dakota between March 28 and April 30. The investigation has since traced them back to the strawberries. Although they are past shelf life and no longer available for purchase, the FDA says that the berries could be in consumers' freezers.

"If you are unsure of what brand you purchased, when you purchased your strawberries, or where you purchased them from prior to freezing them, the strawberries should be thrown away," it says.

H-E-B says in a statement posted to its website that none of the illnesses have been reported to the grocery chain and that it has not received or sold any of the affected strawberries since April 16. However, it also emphasizes that anyone who bought any within the timeframe the FDA outlined should throw the berries aware or return them to the place of purchase.

Anyone contaminated with the virus becomes symptomatic usually within 15 to 50 days after ingesting. Symptoms include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, jaundice, dark urine, and pale stool. In children, however, it is sometimes asymptomatic. Infections can recover on their own within one to two weeks, but in rare cases can become chronic. In this case, and in those with pre-existing health conditions, it can lead to liver failure or even death. For those who believe they may be infected, a vaccine is available.

This isn't the only massive instance of food being potentially dangerous to affect grocery shoppers from coast to coast. Costco, Walmart, and Other Stores Just Pulled More of This Peanut Butter From Shelves.