A review of epidemic investigation on cold‐chain food‐mediatedSARS‐CoV‐2 transmission and food safety consideration duringCOVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

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.

Mass Spectrometry Approaches for SARS-CoV-2 Detection: Harnessing for Application in Food and Environmental Samples

“…The need for low temperature provoked infection points related to the fresh food trade, mainly seafood, including significant outbreaks at the end of 2019 in Wuhan and in June 2020 in Beijing. Regular SARS-CoV-2 detection and fast identification of SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals amongst food industry workers may be warranted [ 45 ]. Another critical point of control that should be constantly monitored is sewage water, since, as previously mentioned, SARS-CoV-2 is also present in the feces of infected individuals.…”

Time course and epidemiological features of COVID-19 resurgence due to cold-chain food or packaging contamination

“…The following conditions are required for contaminated cold-chain food or packaging to cause human infection. First, COVID-19 carrier could shed virus to surface; second, the virus is still alive after long distances transported, and can remain highly stable on material surfaces, such as card board and plastic, for days, particularly under refrigerated (4°C) and frozen (-10 to -80°C) conditions [ 41 , 42 , 43 ]; last, workers in wharf are infected through direct contact, and the virus once reach the human body, they can disseminate rapidly through human-to-human transmission [ 32 ].…”

The Safety of Cold-Chain Food in Post-COVID-19 Pandemic: Precaution and Quarantine

“…Countries at a low infected level or stable epidemic situation should pay more attention to the risk of imported cases to avoid another major outbreak. Therefore, it is urgent to understand the characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via cold-chain routes [ 14 ]. Strengthening the inspection and quarantine of cold-chain foods should be one of the top priorities for COVID-19 prevention.…”