News: PFL Australia's Patties Foods H1 net profit falls on China-packaged berry woes

SYDNEY, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Australian packaged food supplier Patties Foods Ltd (PFL) said first-half net profit fell 12 percent after last year's recall of frozen mixed berries packaged in China that were linked to an outbreak of hepatitis A.

Net profit was A$7.3 million ($5.22 million) for the six months to Dec. 31, down from A$8.2 million in the previous corresponding period, the company said in a statement on Monday.

The result included a 61.7 percent slump in frozen fruit sales to A$15 million, and sales excluding the frozen fruit division rose 2.8 percent, the company said.

Patties last year said laboratory tests had cleared the frozen mixed berries of carrying hepatitis A.

($1 = 1.3972 Australian dollars)