Coronavirus: China bans imported pork from German meat plant after more than 650 infected in outbreak

Name: New coronavirus outbreak at Beijing food market fuels fears of second wave of cases in China
Uploaded: 2020-06-18T12:50:32.000Z
Duration: 1 min 39 s
Description: New coronavirus outbreak at Beijing food market fuels fears of second wave of cases in China

Products from German slaughterhouse Toennies are banned from entering China after a coronavirus outbreak at the facility, customs agency says

Outbreak is likely add to concerns about the safety of imported food in China and comes just days after Beijing halted shipments of European salmon

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Products from a German slaughterhouse have been banned from entering China after a coronavirus outbreak at the facility, the nation’s customs agency says. Photo: Bloomberg

Orange Wang

Published: 8:50pm, 18 Jun 2020Updated: 10:55am, 19 Jun 2020

China on Thursday banned imported pork from a German company after its workers became infected by coronavirus, adding to uncertainty over fresh food shipments to the country amid a new outbreak in Beijing.

More than 650 out of 1000 staff at the meatpacking plant owned by Toennies tested positive for the virus, leading German authorities to close the facility, as well as schools and childcare centres in the western city of Guetersloh.

All products from the German slaughterhouse were banned from entering China as of June 17, the General Administration of Customs said on Thursday, adding German authorities had alerted China to the cluster of infections.

The outbreak is likely to add to concerns about the safety of imported proteins in China – a country of 1.4 billion people -and comes just days after Beijing halted shipments of European salmon amid fears it may be the source of a new coronavirus outbreak.

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New coronavirus outbreak at Beijing food market fuels fears of second wave of cases in China

Though food experts say salmon is unlikely to carry the disease, shipments were frozen after the virus was discovered on chopping boards used for imported salmon at Beijing’s Xinfadi market, which has been linked to new infections in the capital.