In this photo from July 29, 2015, an employee of GNT demonstrates the difference in color between a not-so-ripe and ripe strawberries as an example of the best time to extract their colors at the GNT offices in Tarrytown, N.Y. Several major food makers are hoping to win over customers by vowing to rid their products of artificial ingredients. But replicating the vivid colors Americans have to expect without synthetic dyes presents technical and regulatory challenges, and in some cases will mean new hues for popular products. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. | Strawberries at three El Paso County restaurants have been connected to a multistate hepatitis A outbreak.

The Gazette of Colorado Springs reports (https://bit.ly/2eij6Sc ) that El Paso County Public Health officials say strawberries used in margaritas at the restaurants Rancho Alegre, Mi Mexico and Guadalajara may have been contaminated with the virus.

Health officials say anyone who ate or drank strawberries at the restaurants should receive hepatitis A vaccinations. El Paso County Public Health is offering free vaccinations to anyone who doesn’t have a primary care doctor.

Health officials have connected more than 100 hepatitis A cases to frozen strawberries imported from Egypt since Jan. 1. The outbreak has mostly sickened people on the East Coast. No known cases have been reported in Colorado.

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Information from: The Gazette, https://www.gazette.com

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