China reports traces of coronavirus on frozen food packaging
A sample taken from the surface of frozen chicken wings imported into the southern city of Shenzhen from Brazil had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, REUTERSA customer wearing a face mask shops at pork meat hall inside the Yuegezhuang wholesale market, following new cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections in Beijing, China June 17, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/TINGSHU WANG)
Chinese health officials reported traces of the novel coronavirus in cargoes of imported frozen food in three separate cities, according to NBC News.While China asserts contaminated food shipments are a problem in the country, the World Health Organization downplayed the risk of the virus entering the food chain.A sample taken from the surface of frozen chicken wings imported into the southern city of Shenzhen from Brazil had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.In addition to screening all meat and seafood containers coming into major ports in recent months, China has suspended some meat imports from various places, including Brazil, since mid-June.Shenzhen's health authorities traced and tested everyone who might have come into contact with potentially contaminated food products, and all results were negative, the city's notice said."It is hard to say at which stage the frozen chicken got infected," said a China-based official at a Brazilian meat exporter.Shenzhen authorities identified the chicken as originating from a plant owned by Aurora, Brazil's third-largest poultry and pork exporter.Samples of outer packaging of frozen Ecuadorian shrimp sold in the northwestern city of Xian also garnered similar results, containing traces of the coronavirus.In Yantai, health officials detected coronavirus on the packaging of seafood being transported to China by a foreign vessel - they did not state what country the food was being transferred from, according to NBC.The month prior, officials reported coronavirus on the packaging of frozen foods in Dalian, Xiamen and Pingxiang.China reported 30 new coronavirus cases on the mainland on Aug. 13, up from 19 on the previous day, the country's health authority said on Friday.The National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin that 22 of the new cases were imported, versus 11 a day earlier.It also said 28 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases had been found on Thursday, up from 20 the day before.China's total number of reported cases now stands at 84,786. The official death toll is unchanged at 4,634.As confirmed COVID-19 cases continue to rise globally, the discoveries raise fresh concerns that the coronavirus that causes the disease can spread on surfaces and enter the foodchain. A day earlier, officials started investigating whether the first COVID-19 cases in New Zealand in more than three months were imported by freight.Viruses can survive up to two years at temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius, but scientists and officials say there is no strong evidence so far the coronavirus can spread via frozen food."People should not fear food, food packaging or delivery of food," the World Health Organization's head of emergencies program Mike Ryan told a briefing.The US Food and Drug Administration and Agriculture Department said in a joint statement "there is no evidence that people can contract COVID-19 from food or from food packaging."Brazil's Aurora, which is unlisted, said it had not been formally notified by the Chinese authorities of the alleged contamination. The company said it takes all possible measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and there is no evidence it is spread through food. Brazil's agriculture ministry said it was seeking clarification from Chinese authorities.even Argentine meat processing plants are temporarily not exporting to China because they have registered cases of COVID-19 among their employees, a source from the Argentine agricultural health agency Senasa said on Thursday.The first cluster of COVID-19 cases was linked to the Huanan seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Initial studies suggested the virus originated in animal products on sale at the market.Li Fengqin, who heads a microbiology lab at the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment told reporters in June the possibility of contaminated frozen food causing new infections could not be ruled out.Xinfadi market, a sprawling food market in China's capital of Beijing, was linked to a cluster of infections in June. Authorities said the virus was found in the market on a chopping board on which imported salmons were handled.How the virus entered Xinfadi market in the first place is yet to be determined, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in its latest update of the investigation in July. The market will be reopened from the weekend.
