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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

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
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.

Does Covid-19 spread through food? The evidence says ‘highly unlikely’

“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.

Chinese customs has suspended the importing of food from the three companies and will return or destroy the food that was seized.

It has also urged the Ecuadorean authorities to step up its control of frozen food exported to China, Bi said.

Nearly 60,000 food samples from places including Zhejiang, Yunnan, Henan and Shandong provinces and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region had all been tested and found negative as of July 7, said Li Ning, deputy director of China’s National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment.

“Overall, the likelihood of food being contaminated by the novel coronavirus remains very small,” she said.

Food could be contaminated by the virus if it was present in the surroundings or carried by the staff handling the food, Li said.

Staff members must not go to work if they had symptoms such as fever, coughing and fatigue, she said. Li also said food processing facilities and retail stores should strengthen their hygiene measures to prevent infections.

Consumers should clean food ingredients before cooking and make sure foods were thoroughly cooked to kill the coronavirus and other pathogenic microorganisms, she added.

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