A sample of frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil has tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, reports CNN, the latest in a series of reports of contaminated imported food products. Shenzhen health authorities immediately traced and tested people who might have come into contact with the product, and all results came back negative.
Authorities are now tracing related products from the same brand that have already been sold, and have disinfected the area where the contaminated chicken wings were stored. The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA) said in a statement that it is analysing the incident and reiterated that "there is no scientific evidence that meat transmits the virus."
News of the contaminated chicken wings comes a day after coronavirus was found on the packaging of shrimps imported from Ecuador, another South American country, at a restaurant in eastern Anhui province during a routine inspection – the report says since July, there have been seven instances where the virus was detected on the packaging of imported seafood products across the country, from Shandong province on the eastern coast to the municipality of Chongqing in the west.
The report quotes health authorities, including the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as saying, however, that the possibility of catching the virus through food is low – the WHO says it is "highly unlikely that people can contract COVID-19 from food or food packaging." And according to the CDC, while it is possible to catch COVID-19 by touching a surface or object – including food or food packaging that has the virus on it – and then touching your mouth, nose, or possibly eyes, it is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.
"There is no evidence to date of viruses that cause respiratory illnesses being transmitted via food or food packaging. Coronaviruses cannot multiply in food; they need an animal or human host to multiply," the WHO says.
New Zealand reported its first case of COVID-19 in more than 100 days on Tuesday (11 August). According to a Business Insider Australia report, it’s possible the virus arrived via imported food packages. It was reported that the country’s health officials suggested the new outbreak may be linked to these frozen goods because one of the infected patients works at a store that orders such items from overseas.
But, the report says, experts maintain that the chance of catching COVID-19 from frozen food is slim. “It is possible, but the virus is not very stable outside the human body,” Caitlin Howell, a chemical and biomedical engineer at the University of Maine, told Business Insider.
She added, “freezing or refrigerating the virus can help to extend the period of time that it stays infectious, which is why we think that outbreaks at meatpacking plants were occurring so frequently, but transmission via surfaces still appears to be rare – even when those surfaces are frozen or refrigerated.”
The findings are not cause for concern, according to Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organisation’s Health Emergencies Programme. “There is no evidence that food or the food chain is participating in transmission of this virus, and people should feel comfortable and feel safe,” Ryan said in a press briefing on Thursday, adding, “people should not fear food, or food packaging or processing, and the delivery of food.”
China has tested a few hundred thousand packaging samples and less than 10 came back positive, the WHO reported.
That’s because the virus – if it winds up on such packages at all – is unlikely to survive for the time it takes to ship goods from one place to another, according to Rachel Graham, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina. “Even frozen, on a surface like that, you’ll see the virus desiccate and dry out, which renders it completely non-infectious,” Graham is quoted by Business Insider as saying, adding that the “freeze-thaw process” could kill it as well.
What’s more, she said, it’s likely that Chinese officials detected viral RNA on the packages, which doesn’t pose a big threat. “While RNA is virologically infectious, practically it is not,” she said.
“Throughout the entire pandemic so far, there has continued to be shipping of products all over the world. If transmission via surfaces – whether frozen or refrigerated or not – were a major driver of infection, we would be seeing many case reports on it,” Howell said, adding, “the fact that we’re not suggests that it is not a major route of infection.”
Indeed, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the virus “does not spread easily” from contaminated surfaces, though the agency continues to recommend that people “routinely clean and disinfect” high-touch surfaces just in case.
But, the report says, Howell and Graham both recommend that shippers and shoppers stay vigilant and diligent during the pandemic. “The best thing that can be done by the manufacturers, shippers, and others in the supply chain is to have a strong, enforced policy of wearing masks, washing hands, and staying home when sick,” Howell said.
For individual shoppers, she added, “the best thing for consumers to do is simply to avoid touching their face until they have had a chance to wash their hands or use hand sanitizer.”
"Your chance of touching a virus-infected surface in a public store is far, far higher than encountering the virus on frozen food, according to Graham. “It’s not something you should be concerned about, but you should continue to be aware of what you touch and then bring to your face. That’s going to protect you the most,” she said.
[link url="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/13/asia/china-coronavirus-chicken-wings-intl-hnk/index.html"]Full CNN report[/link]
[link url="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/frozen-food-unlikely-to-transmit-coronavirus-like-in-new-zealand-2020-8"]Full Business Insider Australia report[/link]