China has zeroed in on frozen food imports as it tries to keep a lid on Covid-19
- The WHO and public health experts say the risk of becoming infected by touching food packaging is low
- But Beijing wants cold-chain shipments disinfected and has imposed import bans on firms whose products have tested positive
According to the global health body’s guidance to food companies, the virus can survive on surfaces for various lengths of time depending on the temperature and humidity level, and for a longer time in cold storage, but “it is highly unlikely that people can contract Covid-19 from food or food packaging”.
“[However] so far, we have not seen evidence of people getting Covid-19 from consuming food: Covid-19 is not a food-borne illness,” the spokesman said.
The comments came as authorities in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus was first identified, on Friday reported a new case of contaminated cold-chain products. They said three samples from the outer packaging of frozen Brazilian beef had tested positive, according to Reuters. The meat, which entered the country on August 7 and reached the city 10 days later, had been kept in a cold storage facility.
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