Report: China Resumes Inspecting Frozen Food for Virus

China has claimed for at least a year that COVID-19 can spread through food and food packaging, which international authorities have denied.

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Bloomberg reported Aug. 3 that China is reemphasizing its longstanding and controversial claim that COVID-19 can be transmitted through food as the country has resumed inspections for the virus in imports of frozen food.

Citing local news reports, Bloomberg said China is tightening inspections of those imports in major cities that include Zhengzhou and Haiko as a means of preventing the virus' spread. One local news report said that frozen pork bone and beef ribs originating in the U.K., Brazil and Canada were seized from a hot pot restaurant in Nantong City because its operators couldn't provide proof of disinfection or acid testing.

China has maintained since at least June 2020 that the coronavirus can remain viable in frozen food and food packaging and has linked some human infections with imports. International health authorities have negated or at least downplayed that claim, including the FDA and USDA stating this past February that there is no credible evidence of food or food packaging associated with or as a likely source of viral transmission. The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have maintained that the chance of getting COVID-19 from frozen foods is very low.

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