Food Packaging and COVID-19

Lyes Ouabdesselam,Amel Sayad

doi:10.21601/ejbms/10820

Abstract

During the first wave of COVID-19 where around 30 000 people died in just a few weeks in nearby countries notably in Italy. Researchers began to assess the mode of transmission of the virus in the air and in the microparticles suspended in the air, in wastewater, and on food packaging and in the food itself. As soon as food retailers learned that the virus could be found on their shelves, they decided to start testing COVID-19 on food products, on shelves and any other surface where the virus may have been found. But at the same rate as the demand for testing increased, it soon afterwards fell. After initially reporting that COVID-19 can survive on frozen food, said the likelihood of getting infected by touching food is very low. This paper is a specific descriptive study on the effect of food packaging during the COVID-19 pandemic and consumer expectations in terms of food safety.

Highlights

COVID-19 is not a foodborne illness [1]
As with any emerging pathogen, little was known about the ecology of SARS-CoV-2, the behavior and characteristics of the virus can be predicted based on data from similar viruses such as those responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
Knowing that the rapid alert system for food and feed (RASFF) is based on reasoned sampling and that the database does not publish only positive results [6], we have examined in this paper the trends of recalls for the first three quarters of 2020

Summary

Introduction

COVID-19 is not a foodborne illness [1]. The first reported cases were from a wet market in Wuhan, China, which suggests food was suspected. Numerous articles report the survival of SARS-CoV-2 on different surfaces, even on frozen foods. COVID-19 is not considered a foodborne illness and surface contamination is unlikely to be a significant source of contamination.

Results

Conclusion