Kiwifruit dumped over typhoid scare

Photo / Alan Gibson

Kiwifruit worth $800,000 - including some bound for overseas markets - has been destroyed after a worker at a Bay of Plenty orchard was found to have typhoid fever.

Zespri has destroyed 100,000 trays of fruit, including about 30,000 that were destined for foreign stores.

The fruit is about 0.1 per cent of Zespri's annual export volume.

A Zespri official said the incident was "unfortunate and frustrating".

The industry is also battling a vicious kiwifruit vine disease affecting 219 orchards nationwide.

The decision to scrap kiwifruit the worker may have handled came after an investigation by health authorities and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry this week.

Neither Zespri nor New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers would name the orchard, the worker, or the country in which the worker contracted the infection, which was reported to health authorities on Saturday.

The Herald understands the worker came to New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme.

Kiwifruit Growers chief Mike Chapman said health checks were given to seasonal workers under the scheme and an investigation had started into how the man had slipped through the system.

"I'm confident the system works well, but every system has potential areas of risk, and this is one of those areas."

Bay of Plenty medical officer of health Neil de Wet said the worker arrived from overseas "very recently", and was thought to have infected several others at the orchard, which he would describe only as being east of Tauranga.

"We are focused on trying to identify what kiwifruit may have been handled," Dr de Wet said, "and we've come to the conclusion that there is a low probability that any of the kiwifruit he has handled would be contaminated. But to be sure, we have decided the fruit that this worker may have handled has all been identified, contained and will not go to market."

Zespri traced some affected kiwifruit to 11 ships, and the rest had been quarantined in Bay of Plenty cool stores, spokesman David Courtney said.

"Due to our systems we are able to track kiwifruit to a single piece of fruit and we are very confident that none will land in the market.

"Clearly it's unfortunate and frustrating, but the season will go on. It's a very rare occurrence."

The company was still "working through" how the kiwifruit would be destroyed, Mr Courtney said.

The kiwifruit industry is worth at least $1 billion a year to New Zealand and accounts for 20 per cent of Bay of Plenty's GDP.

Despite the infection, Dr de Wet said, he was satisfied with the industry's hygiene control.

"There are very good screening programmes, as well as ongoing work and education on hygiene and illness."

The infected worker would be screened again in three weeks, and Dr de Wet said tests had cleared most of the other orchard staff.

Typhoid fever is a bacterial disease, transmitted through consumption of food or drink contaminated by the faeces or urine of infected people.

Symptoms usually develop one to three weeks after exposure and can include high fever, malaise, headache, constipation or diarrhoea.

It is treated with antibiotics.

* Do you know any more about this story? Email jamie.morton@nzherald.co.nz