|
 
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| LETTER TO EDITOR |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 10
| Issue : 6 | Page : 305-307 |
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Food safety amid coronavirus disease 2019
Ravinder Thaper
Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA
| Date of Submission | 17-Nov-2020 |
| Date of Decision | 20-Nov-2020 |
| Date of Acceptance | 23-Nov-2020 |
| Date of Web Publication | 24-Dec-2020 |
Correspondence Address:
Ravinder Thaper
Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Auburn University, 345 W Magnolia Ave, 36849 Auburn, AL
USA
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/cmrp.cmrp_64_20
How to cite this article:
Thaper R. Food safety amid coronavirus disease 2019. Curr Med Res Pract 2020;10:305-7 |
| Introduction | |  |
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes respiratory illness in people,[1] which spreads very quickly from person to person. The spread of COVID-19 has become a global concern which emerged from China in December 2019. The mode of spread of the virus is minute droplets that get released into the air while sneezing or coughing. One can get infected if an individual touches the contaminated surfaces and subsequently touches his/her face, mouth, eyes or mouth.[2],[3] The symptoms of illness caused by COVID-19 are sore throat, cough, fever, chills, difficulty in breathing, rigors with chills, muscle pain, headache and loss of taste or smell. In a press release by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on January 2020, the first case of a novel coronavirus was confirmed in Washington state from a patient who had travelled to Wuhan, China. The current article focuses on food safety amid COVID-19.
| Can Coronaviruses be Transmitted From Food and Food Packaging? | | |
According to the experts in the World Health Organisation (WHO), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), United States-Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) and CDC,[4],[5],[6],[7] it has not been scientifically established yet that the virus can get transmitted through food or food packaging. As recommended by the USDA, the virus may stay for a while on a surface depending on its type, therefore one should follow '4 key steps of food safety – clean, separate, cook, and chill'.[8] The Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends that if a person has any illness or COVID-19 illness, that individual should be excluded to avoid unsanitary conditions caused by coughing or sneezing on food products.[8] There have been no known facts about if there is a risk of transfer of the virus from imported food products in the USA.[9],[10]
Although as mentioned above the virus does not get transmitted from the food itself, there is a concern about the persistence of the virus in raw foods from animal origin. Different types of materials such as metal, steel, paper, plastic and glass are used for packing food items, as represented in [Figure 1]. If the packaging/container gets in contact with a virus, the virus can survive on the surface in the range of few hours to few days depending on the surface, as mentioned in [Table 1]. | Figure 1: Market share of different types of food-packaging materials[11]
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 | Table 1: Survival time of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus on different types of surfaces
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It has been observed by researchers that the human coronaviruses can remain active for up to 9 days on inanimate surfaces.[14] However, they are thermolabile and are susceptible to cooking at 70°C. As the virus is sensitive to heat, the risk can be reduced by thorough cooking of food. It has been advised by the WHO that coronaviruses are stable in the frozen state and can persist for up to 2 years at −20°C. With 1 min of exposure time, 0.1% sodium hypochlorite, or 62%–71% ethanol, has the potential to reduce the infectious activity of coronavirus, which is the case of severe acute respiratory syndrome-corornavirus-2,[14] as detailed in [Table 2]. | Table 2: Disinfection time of different agents for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus
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| Precautions to be Taken During and After Grocery Shopping | | |
An individual may wear mask and gloves and use disinfecting wipes during grocery shopping. Individuals should avoid touching surfaces unnecessarily, and one should not touch his/her face or mouth. Individuals should maintain a safe distance of 6 feet from other people nearby. The shopper should not spend too much time in one place, else can order online. When one is experiencing being sick, the person should avoid going to the store. People should always try to opt for cashless transactions and pay using credit/debit cards. One should try to go to the store in hours when fewer people can be expected. In the store once back from the grocery store, all the outer unnecessary packaging of the food items should be discarded as per the guidelines of the United Nations Children's Fund-UNICEF.[17] The fruits and vegetables may be washed firmly and thoroughly, may be with two-parts water and 1-part apple cider vinegar, baking soda and water and brush to ensure thorough cleaning. They must be put in the refrigerator within 2 h as per the guidelines by the US-FDA.[18] The vegetables should not be washed with soap due to the risk of ingestion. Milk cartons/gallons and other boxed food items can be disinfected with disinfectant sanitisers. In the end, one should wash hands with soap and water for 20s as per CDC recommendations.[19] The FDA recommends that one should sanitise the kitchen counters with five tablespoons (1/3rd of cup) of unscented liquid chlorine bleach to 3.79L of water, or four teaspoons of bleach per 0.94L of water.[18] This solution or other disinfecting products should not be used on food. The WHO recommends that raw animal products such as raw meat, raw milk or raw animal organs should be avoided and handled with care for avoiding cross-contamination with the other uncooked foods.[20]
| Conclusions | | |
It can be said that there are no research studies on the transmission of coronavirus from food packaging and the food itself. The current article is raising concerns that food packaging may be the cause of transmission of the infectious virus. Therefore, precautions should be exercised to mitigate the infection by (a) disinfecting the food packaging, which has not been studied yet; (b) discarding all the unnecessary outer food packaging and (c) transferring food to clean utensils, thorough firm rinsing and washing of vegetables followed by cooking thoroughly.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | | |
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[Figure 1]
[Table 1], [Table 2]
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