Single-desk New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri has withdrawn 100,000 trays of fruit after a picker was discovered to have typhoid fever.
According to a report on Radio New Zealand the withdrawn fruit was worth NZ$800,000 (US$635,000) and represented just 0.1 per cent of the marketer’s exports.
Zespri has reported the likelihood that any fruit has been contaminated is extremely low.
It said 30,000 trays of the fruit slated to be withdrawn from the marketplace are currently en route to export markets, but would be disposed of on arrival.
Zespri was informed of the possible contamination following an investigation by New Zealand’s Public Health Service and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
