Jubilee Post News & Views
Special Desk
Beijing authorities have woken up to check import of frozen food after several incidents of imported seafood testing positive for the covid.
Authorities in the Chinese capital Beijing ordered importers to avoid frozen food from countries suffering severe corona virus outbreaks. The Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau (BMCB) has said, “Customs and local governments have repeatedly detected the corona virus in imported cold chain food, proving it risks contamination.”
BMCB urged importers to closely monitor the pandemic situation around the world and take the initiative to avoid importing cold chain foods from areas severely hit by the pandemic. Companies are also instructed to improve their warnings and reporting mechanisms. The companies will also inform authorities if products test positive.
Health authorities, including the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have said the possibility of catching the corona virus through food is low, but China, which has largely stamped out domestic transmission of the virus, is on high alert for possible re-contamination.
In June, China suspended poultry imports from a Tyson Foods plant in the United States because of concerns about an outbreak of corona virus at the facility. Last month, a batch of frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil tested positive for corona virus in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, one of multiple incidents in which the virus had been detected on food products.
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Those incidents sparked increased screening of imported foods nationwide, and heightened scrutiny of products coming from places badly stricken by the pandemic, such as Brazil.
As of September 7, China had suspended imports from dozens of food companies across at least 19 countries and regions where workers have been infected with corona virus, according to state media.
China’s National Health Commission has said there had been no new locally transmitted virus cases in the past 24 hours, or any new deaths connected to the pandemic.
