Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Published : November 15, 2020 2:30 PM IST
The WHO, however, maintains that it is unlikely that people can contract Covid-19 from food or food packaging.
Here's another reason why you should avoid eating frozen food amid Covid-19 pandemic. Chinese health authorities have found Covid-19 virus on imported frozen beef samples.
Three frozen beef samples were tested positive for the Covid-19 virus in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, as reported by IANS. The batch of products dispersed in 1,006 boxes were imported from Brazil to customs in the east Chinese city of Qingdao on August 7 and arrived in a warehouse in Wuhan on August 17. Luckily, the products have not entered the market.
The local authorities have now sealed the products and disinfected the area. Tests are also being conducted on relevant personnel who were handling the products. Till Friday, 112 employees working at the warehouse have tested negative for Covid-19.
The Municipal Health Commission of the eastern Chinese city of Jinan has also reported detection of coronavirus on the packaging of beef and tripe imported from Brazil, New Zealand and Bolivia.
The importers were a unit of Guotai International Group and Shanghai Zhongli Development Trade, and the entry ports were Shanghai`s Yangshan port customs and outer port customs, the Commission said in a statement on its website late on Saturday. However, it did not name the companies that shipped the products.
Live coronavirus detected on frozen cod fish packaging
Over the past few months, China has been focusing its attention to imported frozen foods, which it believes can also play a role in the spread of the virus. In fact, the country has repeatedly sounded alarms after detecting traces of the virus in many imported food products or their packaging. These include shrimp from Ecuador, squid from Russia, fish from Norway and Indonesia, and beef and chicken wings from Brazil.
Last month, the Chinese CDC detected and isolated live coronavirus on the packaging of imported frozen cod fish while tracing the source of an outbreak in the city of Qingdao. Following that Qingdao authorities heightened scrutiny and ordered "every piece" of imported cold-chain products to be tested, as reported by CNN.
Workers handing these products were also ordered to be tested every three to five days.
Meanwhile, customs authorities across China have stepped up coronavirus testing on frozen food imports. As per the CNN report, Chinese customs had halted imports from 99 food companies across 20 countries.
Can you catch Covid-19 from frozen food?
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it is unlikely that people can contract Covid-19 from food or food packaging.
"Coronaviruses need a live animal or human host to multiply and survive and cannot multiply on the surface of food packages. It is not necessary to disinfect food packaging materials, but hands should be properly washed after handling food packages and before eating," WHO said in its website.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also maintains that the risk of catching Covid-19 from food is "very low." Both insist that there is currently no evidence of COVID-19 transmission from food.
"The virus that causes COVID-19 can be killed at temperatures similar to that of other known viruses and bacteria found in food," WHO said.
But the Chinese CDC claims that it's possible to contract Covid-19 from food packaging.
Earlier, Chinese CDC chief epidemiologist Wu Zunyou, announced that the Beijing outbreak is an evidence that contaminated food can cause new Covid-19 outbreaks via cold-chain transportation. The country started suspecting imported frozen food after an outbreak emerged from the largest wholesale food market in Beijing in June.
A study published in the National Science review, a journal under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, by experts, including from the Beijing CDC, later concluded that contaminated imported frozen seafood was the likely source of the Beijing outbreak.
