We have some unappetizing news: Disease Control Center in China has discovered the new coronavirus on frozen cock wings, according to Reuters. Officials did not say which wing was on the market, but said the shipment came from Brazil, which has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 infection in the world. Brazil currently has 3.4 million confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. The country’s case numbers are only behind those of the United States, which has 5.4 million confirmed cases at press time.
This is not the first time that reports have circulated about food as food packaging testing positive for the coronavirus. A few days before the news about the chicken wing broke, China reported that Ecuador’s shrimp packaging was also testing positive, Reuters says, and New Zealand is reportedly investigating whether its new spot of infections could be linked to freight transport.
So, should you follow your refrigerator with suspicion? Experts do not think so, at least not on the basis of current knowledge about COVID-19 and food.
“At present, there is no evidence to support the transmission of COVID-19 in food,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. Now, it’s certainly possible that we’ll learn more – the CDC has in fact issued the wrong guidance before, and its page on food and COVID-19 was last updated on 22 June. However, when asked if this frozen chicken wing news would change how much we as I would worry about COVID-19 food transmission, Eleanor Murray, Sc.D., had assistant professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health , a reassuring answer: “I do not think this will change it. The fact is that we” Do not SELF see much form transmission. Fomites are virus particles on surfaces, “she tells herself.” Either it is difficult to become infected in this way, or the precautionary measures we take as a country, world, etc. have taken. “
But why? For a start, experts believe that contaminated objects (including food and packaging) are not the main mode of COVID-19 transmission. As you have (hopefully) heard many times now: The primary way COVID-19 spreads is through contact-in-person via respiratory drops. Respiratory drops form when a person talks, coughs, kneels, sings, or even breathes. If someone has COVID-19, the respiratory droplets they expel may contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the infection. If another person inhales these coronavirus-containing respiratory drops, they may develop COVID-19. You are most at risk of this happening if you are in close contact (six feet or less) with a person who has COVID-19.
The virus only replicates in humans and animals, so it does not stay infected on surfaces for long. “In general, there is likely to be a very low risk of spreading food products or packaging, due to poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces,” the CDC notes. Like many other things about this virus, experts are still investigating just how long it can survive on surfaces. At present it seems that the virus can last for hours to days on different surfaces, says the CDC, but there are no details when it comes to how long the virus can last on specific foods.
We know that the frozen nature of the wings can be a major factor in terms of survival of the virus. “Freezing is how we store viruses in labs,” Murray says. The potential COVID-19 transmission over food packaging in both the cases of Ecuador and New Zealand also involved frozen goods. But frozen chicken wings (like any other food) that test positive for the virus does not necessarily mean that food makes someone sick after eating. Most tests will even pick up remnants of SARS-CoV-2 debris, which is not the complete virus, Murray explains.
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