China have disclosed that samples of imported shrimp from Ecuador tested positive for coronavirus, raising questions again over whether the pathogen can spread through food or frozen products.
The samples were from three Ecuadorian plants, and imports from those processors will be halted, it said. A leading Ecuadorian shrimp exporter disputed the findings.
China's General Administration of Customs said the virus tested positive on both the inside and outside of the shrimp packaging.
Bi Kexin, director of the food import and export safety bureau in the customs department said:
“The test result doesn’t mean the virus is contagious, but reflects the loopholes in companies’ food safety regulations,”
“Customs will further strengthen control of the origins of imported cold-chain food.”
The Chinese authorities last month pointed to imported salmon as a possible culprit for Beijing’s fresh Covid-19 outbreak, sparking a boycott of the fish as supermarkets took the produce off their shelves. China also began mass testing of cold food imports at ports, and blocked shipments from meat plants abroad that reported infections among workers.
Evidence suggests that it’s extremely unlikely for the virus to be transmitted through food, said Gorjan Nikolik, associate director of seafood at Rabobank.
The Chinese authorities last month pointed to imported salmon as a possible culprit for Beijing’s fresh Covid-19 outbreak, sparking a boycott of the fish as supermarkets took the produce off their shelves. China also began mass testing of cold food imports at ports, and blocked shipments from meat plants abroad that reported infections among workers.
Evidence suggests that it’s extremely unlikely for the virus to be transmitted through food, said Gorjan Nikolik, associate director of seafood at Rabobank.
Though Chinese officials have also agreed with global experts that imported food poses a low risk of transmitting the virus but the recent development has led to confusion overseas over why China is continuing to test and halt shipments.
The tests are “an important measure to prevent the risk of the virus being transmitted from imported cold chain food channels,” Bi said. “This is a necessary measure taken to protect the health of the people and does not interrupt normal international trade.”
But the Ecuadorian shrimp exporter, Santa Priscila questioned the findings and lamented the blow to the industry’s reputation, saying Chinese officials had refused to provide information on the testing in recent weeks.
“They found one positive non-contagious test ‘inside the wall of the container’ as a result of 227,934 samples taken from the containers, that is 0.0000043%,” Santa Priscila President and founder Santiago Salem said in a statement.
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