Chicken wings from Brazil test Covid-19 positive as Chinese social media calls for ban on frozen food imports
A frozen chicken wings sample imported from Brazil in China has reportedly tested positive for the deadly novel coronavirus in Shenzen, authorities on Thursday, August 13, said. This is the latest incident of virus-affected imported food products in the country. The Covid-19 virus was reportedly detected on the surface taken from a batch of chicken wings during a screening of imported frozen food on Wednesday, August 12, in Longgang district of Shenzhen, the municipal government said. The brand of the product has not yet been revealed by authorities.
Soon after the virus was detected on the frozen product, Shenzhen health authorities immediately traced and tested people who may have come in contact with the product. The results for their tests, however, came negative. The municipal government's statement said that all related products in stock have been sealed off and tested negative for the novel coronavirus. Officials are now on a quest to trace linked products from the same brand that have already been sold in the market. They have reportedly also disinfected the area where the contaminated chicken wings were stored.
Brazil, the second-worst coronavirus affected country after the United States, has reported over 3.1 million coronavirus cases so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University's data. The country's President Jair Bolsonaro was also recently diagnosed with Covid-19.
The report of the virus-affected chicken wings comes just a day after the novel coronavirus was found on packaging of shrimps imported from Ecuador at a restaurant in eastern Anhui province in China during a routine inspection, according to CCTV, Beijing's state broadcaster. Reports state that the virus has been detected on multiple seafood products' packaging across several cities in the country.
Similar incidents across the nation have reportedly sparked safety concerns over imported food products. Health authorities in China, over the recent months, have repeatedly warned the public to be cautious about purchasing imported meat and seafood products. Some people, on Chinese social media, have also called for the suspension of all frozen food imports in the country.
Leading health authorities across the world, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, have said that the possibility of contracting Covid-19 through food is low. The WHO, in a statement, had said that it is "highly unlikely that people can contract Covid-19 from food or food packaging."
Meanwhile, the CDC, while addressing concerns of contracting the novel coronavirus from food products, had said that the risk of infection from food products, food packaging, or bags is "thought to be very low." The federal health agency noted that the deadly new virus generally spreads through person to person contact, via the respiratory droplets of an infected person.
"Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that handling food or consuming food is associated with COVID-19," the CDC states on its website. "Coronaviruses, like the one that causes COVID-19, are thought to spread mostly person-to-person through respiratory droplets when someone coughs, sneezes, or talks. It is possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object, including food or food packaging, that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes. However, this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads."