Does Covid-19 spread through food? The evidence says ‘highly unlikely’
- A fresh outbreak linked to a market in Beijing has fuelled speculation that contaminated food from overseas could be to blame
- But experts don’t see it as a vehicle for virus transmission, and some say livestock is the more important area to investigate
Restrictions include banning products from certain foreign meat plants and asking exporters to confirm the safety of their shipments. The moves have raised concern in the US, which has a trade deal with China that involves huge volumes of food exports.
“There is no evidence that people can contract Covid-19 from food or from food packaging,” US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement on Wednesday. “The US food safety system, overseen by our agencies, is the global leader in ensuring the safety of our food products, including product for export.”
Still, the outbreak has puzzled authorities in China after the capital went 55 days without a new reported infection. The source is still unknown.
It was the discovery of traces of the virus on a cutting board used for imported salmon in the city’s Xinfadi wholesale market that fuelled speculation food contaminated by sick workers overseas could have brought the virus into the country.
