Australian authorities in New South Wales are urging people who have bought imported frozen pomegranate from the Coles supermarket chain not to eat it, after it was linked to cases of hepatitis A.

The seven patients are based in Sydney, Wollongong and the Central Coast, NSW Health said late on Friday evening, SBS News reported.

Genetic testing on some of the cases identified a unique strain of the infection. 

Symptoms - which include nausea, vomiting and fever - can take between 15 and 150 days to develop, NSW Health spokeswoman Dr Vicky Sheppeard said.

Authorities are working with other states and territories to confirm if the infection can be definitively linked to the Coles product and whether there are locally-acquired cases of the infection elsewhere, the article reported.

NSW Food Authority chief executive Lisa Szabo said fresh pomegranate has not been implicated, nor have Australian-grown frozen products.

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