Frozen chicken imported from Brazil tests positive for coronavirus, says China

In an interesting development, China has revealed that imported chicken wings from Brazil have been tested positive for coronavirus. These chicken wings were imported to southern Chinese city of Shenzhen from Brazil, and the news has literally shocked medical experts.

Chinese authorities came to know about the infection when the local disease control centers tested a surface sample taken from the chicken wings as part of routine screenings. It should be noted that China has been testing imported meat and seafood since June to prevent a possible coronavirus second wave in the country.

According to a notice issued by Shenzhen’s health authorities, they have traced everyone who came into contact with this contaminated meat. Upon testing, all the persons who were traced were found not infected with the virus.

The Shenzhen Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters has now urged the public to be very careful while consuming imported meat and fish. Earlier, Chinese authorities had revealed that they have traced coronavirus infection on shrimps imported from Ecuador.

Several previous studies had found that coronavirus is capable of infiltrating food. However, this pathogen is incapable of reproducing once it infiltrates food, and it cannot survive for long at room temperature.

But Li Fengqin, who heads a microbiology lab at the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment has a different point of view. According to Li, contaminated meat kept in cold storage could act as a potential source of coronavirus transmission.