China Import Suspensions, COVID-19 Testing: Does Not Indicate Food Link or Risk.

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Due to COVID-19 infections in U.S. meat and poultry processing plants, China has suspended some U.S. chicken and pork imports. This news has been sweeping through the news media. China’s announcement follows last week’s brief suspension of salmon imports based on a positive finding of COVID-19 on a chopping board that had been used to cut salmon. Since then, China quickly backed off its declaration, acknowledging that the virus had been found on several other non-salmon-related surfaces. Additionally, the salmon was not contaminated before entering the marketplace.

 

However, the chicken/pork situation is somewhat different because no virus was found on the food or surfaces that the food had been in contact with. To this day, the U.S. CDC, U.S. FDA, World Health Organization, European Food Safety Authority, TAG, and even China’s CDC, have reiterated that there is no evidence to support the transmission of COVID-19 through food. Yet, it seems that with this new declaration, Chinese officials were doing about anything to try to contain “a wave of new infections linked to a wholesale market” in Beijing.

 

Included in its efforts to contain a possible new way, China has also increased testing, including testing food and food surfaces. Just as we see with the salmon example, if enough testing is done, a positive sample (even a non-infective COVID-19 RNA) will likely be found on a food item. As such, the food and beverage industry must be aware of the possibility of positive samples on food, have a communication plan formed, and understand that a positive COVID-19 sample on food does not indicate the potential of transmission from food, or pose a health risk.