China
port warns public after coronavirus found in Brazilian
chicken wings
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[August 13, 2020]
By Roxanne Liu and David Stanway
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A sample of
frozen chicken wings imported into the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen
from Brazil has tested positive for coronavirus, the city government
said on Thursday, raising fears that contaminated food shipments could
cause new outbreaks.
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Local disease control centres tested a surface sample taken from the
chicken wings as part of routine screenings carried out on meat and
seafood imports since June, when a new outbreak in Beijing was
linked to the city's Xinfadi wholesale food centre.
The discovery came a day after traces of the coronavirus that causes
COVID-19 were found on the packaging of frozen shrimp from Ecuador.
China has been stepping up screenings at ports amid the concerns
over food imports.
Shenzhen's health authorities traced and tested everyone who might
have come into contact with potentially contaminated food products,
and all results were negative, the city's notice said.
The Brazilian embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
"It is hard to say at which stage the frozen chicken got infected,"
said a China-based official at a Brazilian meat exporter.
The Shenzhen Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters said the
public needed to take precautions to reduce infection risks from
imported meat and seafood.
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In addition to screening all meat and seafood containers coming into
major ports in recent months, China has suspended some meat imports
from various origins, including Brazil, since mid-June.
The first cluster of COVID-19 cases was linked to the Huanan seafood
market in the city of Wuhan. Initial studies suggested the virus
originated in animal products on sale at the market.
Li Fengqin, who heads a microbiology lab at the China National
Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment told reporters in June the
possibility of contaminated frozen food causing new infections could
not be ruled out.
Viruses can survive up to two years at temperatures of minus 20
degrees Celsius, but scientists say there is no strong evidence so
far the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can spread via frozen food.
(Reporting by Roxanne Liu and David Stanway; Additional reporting by
Shivani Singh and Naveen Thukral; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Ana
Nicolaci da Costa and Tom Hogue)
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