Can you infect Covid-19 coronavirus through food? Frozen Chicken Wings test positive

There is positive news about chicken wings, but not “those wings are delicious”.

In Shenzen, China, a sample of frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus. The following segment of the China Global Television Network (CGTN) described the situation:

Buffalo spices, blue cheese, or maybe even chocolate and cherry sauce may be part of chicken wings, but not the Covid-19 coronavirus. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) would make for a terrible dipping sauce.

Still, don’t panic. Panic only makes sense in the disco or when the words “avocado” and “off” are combined. Remember, the Covid-19 coronavirus is a bit of a person trying to start a rave. A dancing person is not a rave, no matter what music you play or how much LSD is in the game. Likewise, one needs to have enough SARS-CoV2 around, enough to create an infectious dose of the virus to cause infection. A positive test only means that genetic material from the virus has been found and does not say anything about the amount of virus present.

In addition, detecting genetic material from the virus is not the same as detecting live viruses. Only fragments of the virus may be present. So far, the authorities have not found any evidence of people being infected with chicken wings in Shenzen.

This wasn’t the only “Covid-19 Coronavirus and Frozen Food” news this week. How Reuters reportedTests in Yantai, China found virus genetic material on the outer packaging of frozen seafood imported from other countries.

Then there is something else that happened in New Zealand. The country had spent 102 days with no evidence of Covid-19 coronavirus transmission in the community. However, the series is now over. A group of cases recently surfaced in Auckland resulting in the re-initiation of lockdown measures that had not been in effect since June 9th. The first identified case in the group was a man in his 50s. He then apparently passed the virus on to three of his family members, including a preschooler. The number of cases had grown to 17 by Thursday. It turned out that the man had worked in a facility operated by Americold. The cold in Americold should be an indication that the facility is storing goods at controlled temperatures. Therefore, authorities are investigating the possibility that the man picked up the virus by handling contaminated imported frozen food or frozen food packaging. To date, there have been no reports of frozen foods in New Zealand that tested positive for the virus.

Then how concerned should you be about your food? How concerned should you be about your package? (That is, the packaging around your groceries when it comes to the Covid-19 coronavirus.) As I mentioned for ForbesStudies have shown that the virus can survive on various surfaces for considerable periods of time, in some cases several days. So in theory you are could catch the virus from food or food packaging.

However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)“Currently there is no evidence that food handling or consumption is related to COVID-19.” In other words, there have been no documented cases of this occurring. Additionally, declared the World Health Organization (WHO) that “it is very unlikely that people can become infected with COVID-19 through food or food packaging”.

So why is it “unlikely” that the virus was found on food and can stay on surfaces for a while? Finally, you can get many other infections from food, such as: Salmonella and Listeria. Remember that the Covid-19 coronavirus is very different from bacteria. You know them fat Song that reads: “I have the chills, are they multiplying?” Well, while many types of bacteria can easily multiply and multiply on food, SARS-CoV2 does not. This virus needs a living host in order to reproduce. Therefore, enough virus must already have deposited on the food and survive long enough for you to be infected by touching or eating the food. This can theoretically happen if someone infected with the virus happens to say, “yummy, frozen chicken wings,” and then hold their face close to the wings and cough over the wings.

Additionally, eating chicken wings wouldn’t be the same as poking them up your nose. (By the way, don’t do this.) Viruses on foods that get through your gastrointestinal tract may not have the same chance of reaching your respiratory tract. And it’s not clear whether the virus can infect cells in your gastrointestinal tract.

All of this is of course based on what is known so far. Gathering evidence for the virus was a bit like chasing after a llama who drives a Tesla while driving a tricycle. With limited time and resources, scientists have come up with ideas about what the virus can do, but still have a lot to learn.

As a result, transmission of the virus via food or food packaging is still possible, especially if a sufficiently high dose of virus is applied to the food. Unlikely does not mean tilt. For example, your underwear is very unlikely to take you to the hospital. However, there are times when you end up in the hospital and your story to the doctor could start with “Doc, it all started when I put my underwear on”.

Hence, it is best to continue pursuing the following food safety approaches that i sketched for Forbes again in early June (which was about two or three missed haircuts ago):

1. Wipe food packaging that was recently handled by others. This in turn means non-food toppings and not the food itself. In this case, “food packaging” does not mean the pita around a sandwich or the peel of a fruit. Do not apply disinfectant to such things.
2. Keep your kitchen surfaces clean and disinfected. This applies wherever you prepare and serve your food, not just in the kitchen. For example, if for some reason you cook and eat in the shower, keep that area clean and disinfected as well.
3. Wash your hands thoroughly before and after handling food. Have you ever heard the chorus “wash your hands”? Well, get used to it because it won’t change. After the pandemic is over, you won’t be hearing, “OK, you don’t have to wash your hands anymore.”
4. Thoroughly cook what can and should be cooked. For example, it is better to cook hot dogs than to eat them raw. The target temperature should if possible 75 degrees Celsius, that’s about 167 degrees Fahrenheit. Try to keep this temperature for a long time. Of course, not everything can be cooked. For example, a cooked popsicle basically turns into a stick with no pop.
5. Use clean water to rinse off fresh fruits and vegetables. The emphasis here is on the word “clean”. Dirty water only makes things dirtier. In addition, rinse everything thoroughly. You can even sing multiple choruses of a song like “Forbidden Fruit” to make sure you rinse the fruit long enough. Just remember that a song like this isn’t really about fruit.
6. Transport and store food safely. Always keep your food in convenient locations where the food cannot contaminate that could touch your face or where other people cannot contaminate the food. Choose a place where random people won’t cough, sneeze, or wheeze on the food. If someone you know tends to gasp after your meal, keep that person safe as well.
7. Use standard approaches to food safety. As I wrote earlier, follow the “clean, separate, cook and cool” guidelines to chill which the FDA outlines on their website.

Again, food and food packaging are unlikely to pose a major risk of Covid-19 coronavirus infection. So it shouldn’t deter you from eating as there is no really viable alternative to eating. The above precautions are useful in preventing not only Covid-19 coronavirus infections, but other much more common foodborne diseases as well. After all, bacteria and other microbes are not socially distant and can still work hard to give you a run for your money during the pandemic.

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