Food quarantine staff are testing seafood for the novel coronavirus at a store in east China's Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, June 16, 2020. /VCG近日，德国一家肉联厂发生新冠肺炎聚集性感染一事引发全世界关注。据报道，截至当地时间20日下午，该肉联厂约5800名员工接受了病毒检测，共有1029人确诊感染新冠肺炎。无论是北京新发地疫情，还是德国肉联厂聚集性感染事件，似乎都将病毒溯源推向了一个新的方向：冷链运输。Recent novel coronavirus clusters reported in Beijing's Xinfadi wholesale market and Germany's meat processing firm Toennies seem to point to a new concern: cold chain food storage and transport could be a new hotbed for the novel coronavirus.This has triggered speculation that the virus might have come with imported frozen food and has been lurking somewhere along the supply chain for a couple of months before being exposed to market staff.
点击图片阅读此前报道：《中国疾控中心病毒病所专家：新发地病毒来自欧洲，但比欧洲现在流行的病毒要老》↑↑↑此前，中国疾控中心病毒病所所长助理张勇在分析新冠病毒传播路径时曾表示，病毒有可能潜伏在了进口的冷冻食品当中——“在从境外到境内的整个存储、运输的期间，病毒由于被冷冻没有发生进化，所以它不会发生变异。”进口生鲜冷链食品还安全吗？新冠病毒是否会通过食物传播？这些问题成为舆论关注的焦点。Zhang Yong, assistant director of the Institute of Viral Diseases at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese CDC), said it's possible that the virus did not mutate during transport as it had been sealed in frozen food and stored in cold and damp conditions. That could be the reason why the strain found in Beijing is much closer to the original virus found in Europe months ago.
Low temperature favorable for virus survival
Li Lanjuan, a top Chinese epidemiologist, speaks at a seminar on COVID-19 prevention and control in east China's Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, June 19, 2020. /VCG
19日，在杭州海关举办的抗疫经验交流会上，中国工程院院士、国家卫健委高级别专家组成员李兰娟就海关如何在进出口物资检疫检测环节加强新冠肺炎的排查给出建议和看法。“一般情况下，病毒在冷链上能较长存活。在我们已知并掌握的病毒中，处于4℃左右可以存活3-6个月，-20℃以下可以存活20年左右。不同的病毒存活时间也不一样。新冠病毒是一个新的病毒，从出现到现在才8个月，对它的认识及耐低温能力尚需进一步研究。”
Li Lanjuan, a Chinese epidemiologist, said on Friday that viruses in general can survive quite a long time in cold chain. Some known viruses can even live as long as 20 years when the environment temperature is below -20℃. Yet the novel coronavirus is a new virus and how long it can survive in cold environment remains to be studied, she noted.她提出，海关应加强对冷链食品的全面排查，同时对新冠肺炎检测呈阳性的进出口物资进行追踪溯源。Still, she suggested that the customs should strengthen inspection and test of food transported via cold chain, and trace the source of materials that test positive for the novel coronavirus.事实上，中国海关已对进口生鲜冷链产品展开了一系列风险监测。海关总署卫生检疫司副司长宋悦谦近日表示，针对近期北京市发生的聚集性感染，已部署全国海关对来自疫情高风险国家或地区的生鲜冷链产品开展新冠病毒风险监测，比如水产品、肉类、冷冻蔬菜、水生动物、短时或低温运输工业品等商品。最新数据显示，截至6月18日，全国海关共检测样品15638个，结果均为阴性。China's customs authorities have already taken such action. At a press briefing on Friday, Song Yueqian, deputy director general of the Department of Health Quarantine of China's General Administration of Customs (GACC), said that customs nationwide have conducted sample tests for imported food products transported via cold chain from high risk countries and regions, with all results negative.
Special attention to food safety 19日下午，在北京市召开的疫情防控新闻发布会上，国家食品安全风险评估中心微生物实验室主任李凤琴表示，世界卫生组织早已经明确：经过呼吸道和飞沫传播，以及密切接触传播是新冠病毒肺炎的主要传播途径。到目前为止，国内外还没有发现通过食物传播新型冠状病毒肺炎的报道。At a press briefing on COVID-19 on Saturday, Li Fengqin, director of the Microbiology Laboratory of China's National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, said there has been no evidence that people could contract coronavirus through eating certain foods, citing the World Health Organization (WHO). “包括海鲜在内的所有的食物不会感染新型冠状病毒，但是可能存在着被新型冠状病毒污染的可能。新型冠状病毒污染了食品或食品包装材料后，在其表面是不能够繁殖的，常温下可以存活的时间也相对较短，但在低温下存活的时间较长。因此目前还不能排除低温冷藏的食品和食品包装材料作为病毒的载体，造成病毒污染环境并引起人类传播的可能。”
However, she warned that food surface or package could be contaminated by the virus. Even though the virus cannot reproduce on food surface, it can live for a long time in low temperatures."At present, the possibility cannot be ruled out that frozen food and packages could carry the virus, contaminating a larger environment and then infecting people," she said. 她表示，为了防止新型冠状病毒污染的食品进入食物链，当前加大各个环节的监管力度，加强食品企业的主体责任，加强消费者的自我保护意识尤为重要。
Food inspection and quarantine are especially important at the moment, she pointed out. In order to prevent contaminated food from entering the supply chain, it's necessary to strengthen supervision at all links. Consumers should also improve self-protection awareness when dealing with raw food.