Chicken wings imported to China from Brazil test positive for COVID-19, Chinese officials say

[UpInArms]

Source: CBS News

Frozen chicken wings imported to China from Brazil have tested positive for the coronavirus, local authorities said on Thursday. A sample was taken from the surface of the wings and tested positive, making them one of the latest food imports to test positive for the virus, according to Reuters.

In addition to the frozen wings, which were imported to Shenzhen, the outer packaging of frozen Ecuadorian shrimp sold in Xian also tested positive for the virus on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing local authorities.

On Wednesday, traces of coronavirus were found on a package of frozen shrimp in Anhui province. The shrimp was also from Ecuador.

... snip ...

This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, and the risk of getting COVID-19 from food is thought to be very low, the CDC says. "The virus that causes COVID-19 cannot grow on food. Although bacteria can grow on food, a virus requires a living host like a person or an animal to multiply," the CDC says.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-chicken-wings-brazil-china/

[Wellstone ruled]

1. BTW,if you all have been following along

a bit,New Zealand had their 100 day virus free thing broken a couple days ago with Four Warehouse Workers at Americold Cold Storage,which is primarily a Frozen food Storage facility,and infecting 17 of their family members. Believe two of their facilities are infected. Not sure if these are Dockside facilities or not. Major lock down in two major cities.

[Talitha]

3. Thanks for the details on this story.

I'd heard about it but didn't know the source had been tracked down.

[Boxerfan]

5. Had to look it up-link below.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300081452/coronavirus-more-positive-cases-of-covid19-linked-to-americold-in-auckland


"Three new positive tests have returned from close contacts of a coronavirus case at Americold’s Mt Wellington plant, while seven of their family members have also tested positive.

The cool storage facility will also be tested for Covid-19, with the possibility that the virus could have travelled into New Zealand on refrigerated freight.

Four cases of Covid-19 were discovered in south Auckland on Tuesday evening, ending a 102-day run of no community transmission, with one of the people working at Americold in Mt Wellington."

[Wellstone ruled]

10. That was my guess.

New Zealand is the South Asian supplier of Fluid Milk and various dairy products. Australia and Hong Kong are a couple of their major markets. So cross Contamination of some sort happened. Brazil and other South American Countries are major exporters of fresh meat and other food stuffs to New Zealand.

[abqtommy]

11. Thanks for posting. I had the same thought while reading the original op here...

[ananda]

2. You know, it sounds to me like the virus..

.. can be caught from this kind of food.

Pretty much ... and it looks like those people
in NZ worked for a food plant.

Hmm....

[RhodeIslandOne]

4. If true, this is potentially devastating

The initial speculation in March that it can survive on frozen products seemed far fetched, but now....

[yaesu]

6. traces will probably be found everywhere as the spread continues but doubt that it will

be a way of becoming infected.

[Rural_Progressive]

7. And yet it is disconcerting

to find out that a virus thought not be environmentally resilient is able to remain viable on a substrate for an extended period of time. Does not bode well.

[yaesu]

8. yes it is and I hope they will continue testing, investigating is the virus can infect people from

frozen food. Eating out is probably a much bigger risk. I don't but I do drive through pickups, reheat/nuke the food with packaging at a later date.

[greenjar_01]

18. Agreed

[Lulu KC]

9. Well, that paints a different picture

and makes me want to go back to vegetarian immediately. Except they haven't done these tests on vegetables or fruits that I have seen.

My scientific analysis: SUPER CREEPY!!!!!

[ecstatic]

13. If the virus is surviving on packages, then that would affect frozen vegan foods as

well. Thank goodness I ignored researchers when they said we didn't need to wipe down packages/groceries anymore. However, I had been doing that prior to the pandemic. Just more obsessively now.

[Lulu KC]

16. I just reread this

and it looks like one incident was on the chicken wing, the other on the package.

I think the part I'm struggling with is that a virus isn't really "alive," but it appears to be able to "survive." So what's it doing while it's just lying around on top of things? So far animal and what--plastic? paper? container.

I've already had my morning coffee but feel like I have not.

[ecstatic]

19. I wonder if they've looked into whether or not this virus

can survive on certain types of bacteria?

From the article:

"The virus that causes COVID-19 cannot grow on food. Although bacteria can grow on food, a virus requires a living host like a person or an animal to multiply," the CDC says.

So I just googled whether a virus can "infect" bacteria:

More common, but less understood, are cases of viruses infecting bacteria known as bacteriophages, or phages. In part, this is due to the difficulty of culturing bacteria and viruses that have been cut off from their usual biological surroundings in a process called in vitro.

https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=120974

[Lulu KC]

20. Aha! I think you've got it!

So, since bacteria are everywhere, C-19 can be anywhere at any time.

Again, creeped out! I thought I'd hit my max level but no. Not even close. Hello, lysol wipes.

[intrepidity]

21. No, C19 is not a bacteriophage nt

[intrepidity]

22. When they say "survive" or especially "viable"

they usually mean that it's outer protein coat is not degraded. An intact coat is required for infectivity.

Also, evidence of the virus, which is likely done by PCR, does not automatically mean that the particle is "infectious". A viral particle that was deposited on the chicken or packaging may have undergone significant degradation, and yet still show up as a "positive".

Hope this helps

[Lulu KC]

23. Thanks!

I need seventh grade biology class and I need it now!

[ecstatic]

12. Did the chickens have coronavirus or was it deposited on the chickens' skin from infected

factory workers?

[UpInArms]

15. It seems it was on the surface

From the link ...

A sample was taken from the surface of the wings and tested positive

[WheelWalker]

14. Homegrown... it's a way of life.

[greenjar_01]

17. Lucky that chicken has to be cooked and people wash their hands after touching raw chicken