image: Probable route of transmission for SARS-CoV-2 through cold-chain transportation in the frozen food industry. Frozen food and outer package were contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 during processing and packaging. Through cold-chain transportation with low temperature (such as -20°C), SARS-CoV-2 survived and then infected stevedores or peddlers after reaching the destination. view more
Credit: Biosafety and Health
In September 2020, during the routine nucleic acid inspection of the personnel in Qingdao Port, China, two stevedores were found to be SARS-CoV-2 positive and were identified as asymptomatic infection. The Qingdao Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted an epidemiological investigation to identify the source of infection. Both cases had no COVID-19 case contact history and no foreign personnel contact history, however, both carried out loading and unloading of frozen cod on a particular date in September 2020. In this outbreak in Qingdao, the authors of this article directly isolated SARS-CoV-2 from cod outer package's surface swab samples in a first-time event which demonstrates that frozen food transportation can import SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Cod outer package, Frozen food
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CiteScore: 3.8
ISSN 2590-0536
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