Frozen chicken imports imported from Brazil test positive for the new coronavirus in China, authorities announced Thursday.
COVID-19 was discovered on a surface sample taken from a batch of chicken wings during screening of imported frozen food in Shenzhen’s Longgang district, the city council said in a statement obtained by CNN.
Health authorities in Shenzhen were able to track down and test the people who may have come into contact with the shipment from the unidentified market. Their results returned negative and all relevant products in stock have been reported closed and negatively tested.
The statement said officials are now working to track down related products from the same brand that may have already been sold.
Brazil is second behind the US for the most confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 3,164,785 cases reported to the database maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
Seven specimens of coronavirus have been discovered in the packaging of imported marine products across China, according to CNN, citing state media outlets.
The infected chicken wings made headlines just one day after coronavirus was found on packaging of shrimp imported from Ecuador at a restaurant in the eastern Anhui province of China during a routine inspection, CNN noted.
However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said it is “highly unlikely” that the virus will be removed from food or food packaging.
“To date, there is no evidence of viruses that cause respiratory diseases through food or food packaging. Coronaviruses cannot multiply in food; they need an animal as a human host to multiply,” the WHO said earlier.
CNN notes that while it is possible to catch the virus by touching surfaces or objects such as food packaging and then touching your mouth or nose, it is not the main method of transmitting coronavirus, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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