Covid 19 coronavirus: China claims virus is found in New Zealand frozen meat, Ardern says ‘not our beef’

Authorities in the Chinese city of Jinan say they have found traces of Covid-19 in beef, tripe and packaging from New Zealand and a handful of other countries, Reuters reported.

However, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she has been informed that it was not a New Zealand product and that our officials were investigating further.

The authorities say that the products and packaging that have had Covid-19 come from New Zealand, Brazil and Bolivia, while two other provincial capitals detected it in pork packaging from Argentina.

Ardern told TVNZ today that “he is being warned that it is not our problem.”

“We have been informed that it is Argentine beef, so we are trying to get to the bottom of what has been reported there as we speak, but rest assured that we will continue to do so,” he told Breakfast.

“But up to this point I have been informed that it is not our meat, but we will continue to work on that.”

The packages entered through the ports of Shanghai, said the city’s municipal health commission.

More than 7,500 people who may have been exposed tested negative for the coronavirus, he said.

China is increasing testing on frozen foods after frequently detecting Covid-19 in imported products.

It is not known how Covid-19 reached products coming from New Zealand, and a series of procedures were carried out before it left our shores.

Cases of frozen pork were also reported in Zhengzhou City and Xian. It is not clear if the cases are related.

The World Health Organization has consistently said that the risk of contracting Covid-19 from frozen packaging is low.

The role of frozen food and low temperatures in potential transmission of the virus came into the limelight in New Zealand when officials investigated the source of a mysterious outbreak in August that started with a worker at a cold storage facility.

“We know from studies abroad that the virus can actually survive in some refrigerated environments for quite some time,” Chief Health Officer Ashley Bloomfield told reporters at the time.

But how worried should we really be?

Having previously stated that it is “highly unlikely that people can contract Covid-19 from food or food packaging,” the World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated its stance earlier this year.

“People need not fear food, food packaging, food processing or delivery,” said WHO emergency program director Mike Ryan at a briefing in Geneva in August.

“I would hate to think that we would give the impression that there is a problem with our food or that there is a problem with our food chains.

“There is no evidence that food or the food chain is participating in the transmission of this virus. And people should feel comfortable and safe.”