Coronavirus found on frozen shrimp packaging but risk from food low, China says

Chinese customs suspends imports from three companies and urges Ecuador to step up food safety standards

Food safety deputy director says the likelihood of being infected with Covid-19 via food remains very small but consumers must be vigilant

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Frozen seafood products made of imported shrimps are seen inside a sealed freezer at a supermarket following a new outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Beijing, China on June 19, 2020. Authorities testing imported food have since found six Covid-19 positive samples from nearly 223,000 samples. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:55pm, 10 Jul 2020Updated: 9:06pm, 10 Jul 2020

Chinese authorities found coronavirus on the packaging and in the container of imported frozen shrimps, but the food safety chief said on Friday the discovery did not mean the virus could be transmitted via food packaging.

Bi Kexin, director general of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau under China’s General Administration of Customs, said in Beijing that six Covid-19 positive samples were found from nearly 223,000 samples taken from imported frozen food, the interior and exterior of the packaging and the surroundings.

Authorities have conducted more coronavirus tests on imported food after a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Beijing in mid-June linked to a food market where the coronavirus was found on a cutting board used for imported salmon. Experts have said the fish itself was unlikely to carry the virus.

The Xinfadi wholesale market in Beijing was the centre of an outbreak in Beijing in June. Photo: Reuters

The positive samples were found on the outside of food packaging and the inside of a container of white shrimp sold by three Ecuadorean companies. But samples from the seafood and the interior of the packaging tested negative, according to Bi.

“The results show that the container and the packaging of these companies are under the risk of becoming contaminated by the novel coronavirus. Experts said that while this does not mean they can transmit the virus, it shows that the management of food safety is not ideal,” Bi said.

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