I often like to make smoothies where I among other things add frozen berries. I boil some water in my tea-boiler and pour it over the berries before I add them to the smoothie mix. Is this enough to get rid of the dangerous bacteria, especially found in raspberries?
Ps. Recipe is: Vanilla soy-milk . Banana . Berries . Orange (to keep the banana from turning brown)
Blend until smooth.
From the comments, Henrik noted that there is a parasite in Sweden (called "Dvärgbandmask" in Swedish) that contaminates wild fruit. This is a type of tapeworm called "Echinococcus" in English. Its eggs can cause a parasitic disease called Echinococcosis or hydatid disease. According to this article, freezing the eggs to very low temperatures and/or freezing the eggs very rapidly is fatal to them. Given that modern "IQF" freezing methods for berries bring the fruit very quickly to below -20°C, I'd say that the danger from echinococcosis is very low (much lower than eating unwashed fresh fruit).
As for risks from bacteria, these are also very low because the process of preparing the fruit for freezing and then subsequently freezing them kills the majority of any present bacteria.
Raspberries seem fairly acidic, and many bacteria don't stand up well to acid. Here's one article that says raspberry juice kills bacteria. If you're worried, then, you might consider pureeing the raspberries in your blender and letting them sit for a minute before adding the yogurt, banana, or whatever else you put in your smoothies.
No, you should boil for at least 1 Minute.
Food Safety Authority of Ireland states the following in May 2017, especially for imported berries:
As a result of outbreaks of norovirus and hepatitis A virus in imported frozen berries across Europe in recent years, the FSAI recommends boiling imported frozen berries for one minute before consumption.
See FSAI : Berries - Advice to boil imported frozen berries (May 2017)
McGee has an article for conserving fresh berries for some days longer. He talks about molds, not bacteria...
Frozen berries should be alright as your country's health regulations will not allow dangerous foods to be imported or produced or sold.
