Beijing: Studies into the clusters of COVID-19 cases in recent months show that contaminated cold-chain food products are the major cause of the outbreaks, highlighting the need for protection of workers associated with the industry, experts said. “Research has indicated that the novel coronavirus can survive on cold-chain food and food packaging during long distance shipping and may cause human infection, in particular to high-risk people such as dockworkers,” said Liu Zhaoping, a researcher at the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment.
“However, the likelihood of food-to-human transmission is considered lower than with other routes of transmission.” Investigations into the source of the outbreaks in cities across China, including Beijing and the port cities of Dalian, Liaoning province, and Qingdao, Shandong province, found many of them could be traced to workers at cold storage areas, seafood processing plants and markets selling imported frozen food products, he said. In many areas, the RNA of the novel coronavirus has been detected on the surface of frozen food, including salmon, shrimp, beef and chicken, as well as their packaging. Most of them were imported from countries where the pandemic is still wreaking havoc, Liu said.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
