Months after Patties Foods was forced to recall its frozen berries from supermarkets, the company has made its first move to exit the frozen fruit market altogether.

The food company, based in Bairnsdale, in Victoria’s East Gippsland region, currently sells frozen fruit under its Nanna’s and Creative Gourmet labels, and owns other brands like Four’n Twenty and Herbert Smith.

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On Monday the company announced it had signed an agreement to sell Creative Gourmet, a brand it has owned since 2007, to Entyce Foods, another Victorian food processor and ingredient manufacturer.

Patties Foods said it expected the sale to generate $1.8 million, and anticipated an exit from the frozen fruit market by early 2016, but that the sale of Creative Brands wouldn’t affect its profit results next year.

In February, Patties Foods was forced to recall its Nanna’s frozen berries, after it was revealed they were contaminated with Hepatitis A.

The berries were linked to 31 cases of Hepatitis A, and saw net income growth drop by 11 per cent, compared with the previous financial year.

In a statement Patties Food chairman Mark Smith said once the sale of Creative Gourmet was completed, the company would then focus on selling the Nanna’s category of berries, but it would retain the pastry and dessert products.