Help available for flood-hit farmers
The chair of the Otago Rural Support Trust, Tom Pinckney, says he believes that they will be especially busy in the coming months as the enormity of the floods hit home.
"It is not good enough to just warn people to boil the berries before eating them. Thousands of people every day around the country are drinking smoothies full of berries," says O'Connor.
"Hepatitis A is particularly dangerous for the elderly and those with chronic liver damage."
O'Connor says the Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy must seek urgent answers from his ministry over its handling of imported frozen berries linked to a Hepatitis A outbreak.
"Australian officials recalled important frozen berries there in February. Nathan Guy must explain why – when there is a joint Australasian approach to food safety – the same wasn't done here," he says.
"This latest scare is yet again proof that Labour is right to call for the return of a stand-alone food safety agency."
