In this initial report, researchers from Singapore and Ireland stated that these laboratory paints have shown that SARS-CoV-2 can control time and temperatures related to shipping and garage situations in the foreign food trade.
Recent reports of infected foods in the global chain, with China reporting that SARS-CoV-2 had been detected in imported frozen birds and frozen shrimp containers.
This “non-traditional” transmission mechanism is being debated lately, however, it is believed that other inflamed people can spread the virus on surfaces.
In a study conducted by Van Doremalen et al (2020), SARS-CoV-2 was discovered after 4 hours on copper surfaces, 24 hours in cardboard and after 3 days on plastic and stainless metal surfaces between 21 and 23 degrees Celsius.
Researchers are under pressure from this ongoing study: “This alerts the food protection government and the food industry to a ‘new general environment’ where this virus poses a non-traditional threat to food security. “
The study was published on bioRxiv, a prepress server for biological research, and not peer-reviewed.
Chicken, red meat and salmon were purchased in Singapore supermarkets and cut into 500 mm3 dice. Each die was inoculated with two hundred feet of 3 x 106 TCID50 / ml of SARS-CoV-2.
The samples were stored at another 3 temperatures, fouroC, –20oC and –80oC and collected at other times (1, 2, 5, 7, 1, 4 and 21 days).
WHO said that other people are unlikely to contract COVID-19 from food products or food packaging.
Although transmission through infected food is not a primary address of infection, the researchers in this study examine the stress that it is vital to perceive the threat of an article becoming infected at the time of export, transport and storage, in case there is a possibility of movement of infected parts in a domain without COVID-19 and triggering an epidemic.
There have been recent outbreaks in Vietnam, New Zealand and parts of China where there had been no cases for several months. Researchers said the importation of infected food and food packaging is a imaginable source of such epidemics and a source of groups within existing epidemics.
The researchers wrote, “We believe it is imaginable that infected imported food can transmit the virus to staff and the environment. “
One occasion in Beijing’s wholesale food market raised considerations that imported infected foods can simply plant new groups, i. e. after SARS-CoV-2 detection on staff and a cutting board used to cut imported salmon.
A massive swab crusade was then implemented for market workers, Beijing’s wider food chain, and residents, revealing 335 cases of COVID-19.
Elsewhere, meat and seafood processing facilities have been closed in the UK, Portugal, Ghana, Australia and Germany following outbreaks of COVID-19 under overcrowded and poor ventilation conditions.
“Environmental pollution is likely to continue due to low temperatures, steel surfaces and lack of ultraviolet light. “
On the other hand, salmon processing is very little treated by staff because it is basically automated with nets and cuts made through machines; however, the researchers stated that if the remedy was done manually under overcrowded conditions, the threat of contamination increased.
Researchers said the survival of the virus in infected foods is most likely also caused by shipping and storage.
They said efforts to avoid the threat of COVID-19 outbreaks from infected food should begin at food processing facilities.
“This includes frequent hand washing, cleaning surfaces, fabrics and utensils in contact with food. The use of PPE will have to be monitored and social distancing in and out of the office should be supported. “
On the source chain reception side, when food can’t be decontaminated, researchers entreated consumers to wash their hands after touching raw products, to make certain that food is cooked properly, and to blank surfaces and utensils.
Source: bioRxiv
https://doi. org/10. 1101/2020. 08. 17. 255166
“COVID-19 outbreaks with infected and frozen foods”
Authors: Dale Fisher, et al.
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