A review of epidemic investigation on cold‐chain food‐mediated SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission and food safety consideration during COVID‐19 pandemic

• Published in: Journal of Food Safety Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. e12932 - n/a
• Main Authors: Lu, Li‐Che, Quintela, Irwin, Lin, Cheng‐Han, Lin, Tzu‐Ching, Lin, Chao‐Hsu, Wu, Vivian C. H., Lin, Chih‐Sheng
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.12.2021; Blackwell Publishers Inc
• Subjects: Cold; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Epidemics; Food chains; Food contamination; Food packaging; Food safety; Food supply; Freezing; Frozen foods; Health risks; Invited Review; Outbreaks; Packaging; Pandemics; Respiratory diseases; Safety; Seafood; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Supply chains; Viral diseases; Viruses; China
• ISSN: 0149-6085; 1745-4565
• DOI: 10.1111/jfs.12932

COVID‐19 has brought speculations on potential transmission routes of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), the causal agent of the pandemic. It is reported that the main route of virus transmission to be person‐to‐person by respiratory droplets; however, people have raised concerns on the possible transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 to humans via food and packaging and its potential effects on food safety. This review discusses food safety issues in the COVID‐19 pandemic and reveals its possible transmission in cold‐chain food. The first outbreak of COVID‐19 in late 2019 was associated with a seafood market in Wuhan, China, while the second outbreak of COVID‐19 in June 2020 was also related to a seafood market in Beijing, China. As of 2020, several frozen seafood products linked with SARS‐CoV‐2 have been reported in China. According to the current survey and scientific studies, the risk of infection by SARS‐CoV‐2 from cold‐chain food, food products, and food packaging is thought to be very low. However, studies on food cold chain contamination have shown that SARS‐CoV‐2 remained highly stable under refrigerated (4°C) and even in freezing conditions (−10 to −80°C). Since one mode of SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission appears to be touching contaminated surfaces, it is important to clean and sanitize food contact surfaces properly. Understanding food safety hazard risks is essential to avoid potential negative health effects and SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission in the food supply chain during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Probable route of transmission for SARS‐CoV‐2 through cold‐chain transportation in the frozen food industry.