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WELLINGTON: New Zealand said on Monday (Nov 15) that it had not been notified of any problems with its exports of frozen meat after Chinese authorities said the coronavirus was found in its meat products.
The Chinese city of Jinan said over the weekend that it had found COVID-19 in beef and tripe, and in their packaging, from Brazil, Bolivia and New Zealand, while two other provincial capitals detected it in meat packaging from pig from Argentina.
“New Zealand has not been officially informed of this by the Chinese authorities,” the Foreign and Trade Ministry said in a statement.
“New Zealand officials are now working to determine the source and veracity of these reports.”
Authorities in Jinan, capital of eastern China’s Shandong Province, said the goods involved were imported by a unit of Guotai International Group and Shanghai Zhongli Development Trade. They entered through the ports of Shanghai, they said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in an interview on state broadcaster TVNZ on Monday that she had been informed that it was not New Zealand beef that had COVID-19.
“We have been informed that it is Argentine meat, so we are just trying to get to the bottom of what is reported there,” Ardern said.
China, the world’s leading buyer of beef, found the coronavirus last week in Argentine meat packaging in Shandong and Jiangsu, and in Brazilian meat packaging in Wuhan.
China has stepped up testing on frozen foods after detecting the virus in imported products, prompting import bans, despite the World Health Organization saying the risk of contracting COVID-19 from frozen foods is low. .
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