The Abbott government has moved to increase screening of frozen berries from some Chinese factories after the hepatitis A outbreak.
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The government said on Tuesday it would enforce tougher measures but it was not immediately clear if the surveillance would only apply to Patties berries, which is believed to be the source of the outbreak.
The move followed days of confusion after Prime Minister Tony Abbott last week suggested the government was already conducting tougher screening, only to have that claim disputed by both the Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce and the Agriculture Department in a Senate estimates hearing on Monday.
Mr Joyce and Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash said on Tuesday 100 per cent screening would apply to frozen berries from factories in China linked to the hepatitis A incident.
They said the screening would include testing for hepatitis A indicators.
Patties Foods Limited on Tuesday announced it would not pay out a dividend as it feared a hit to its bottom line in the fallout from a hepatitis A scare.
The company reported a fall in net profit fell 6.1 per cent from $8.8 million to $8.2 million in the six months to December 31
Eighteen people have so far been diagnosed with hepatitis A linked to imported frozen berries, a week after a nationwide recall was issued for a range of products.
All frozen berries from the facilities in question had been held at the factories since the outbreak came to light.
Mr Joyce and Senator Nash backed statements made by Mr Abbott in question time on Monday, saying Food Standards Australia New Zealand had upgraded the suspect berries to "medium risk" following a review of their risk status.
"Berries from these facilities are subject to 100 per cent testing at the border," they said.
"A recall to pull the stock off the shelves was also issued immediately upon news of the hepatitis A issue, and the Department of Health's national incident room was also activated in Canberra to manage the matter.
"Comprehensive testing of the berry product in question is being carried out with early results due this week."
The ministers said the Chinese government had carried out initial inspections at the factories involved and swabs had been taken for microbiological testing.
The said FSANZ would spend some weeks assessing the risk status of all imported frozen berries, following calls from farmers, consumer groups, Labor and the Greens.
