Imported Chicken Wings Test Positive for COVID-19

A Chinese city finds COVID-19 on food from Brazil
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 13, 2020 8:02 AM CDT
Imported Chicken Wings Test Positive for COVID-19
Shenzen, China.   (Getty Images)

If you're in Shenzhen, China, think twice about buying imported chicken wings—which might just contain the coronavirus, CNN reports. That's according to a municipal statement that a surface sample of frozen wings from Brazil tested positive Wednesday during a screening in the city's Longgang district. Health officials say they quickly traced people who may have touched the product, and all tested negative; similar products were cordoned off and also came back negative. Bloomberg reports the product hails from an Aurora Alimentos plant in southern Brazil—a nation with 3.1 million reported coronavirus cases, second only to the US worldwide.

China has spotted seven cases of the virus on the packaging of imported seafood products since July, per state media, but major health authorities including the CDC and WHO say the chance of catching COVID-19 from food remains low. "There is no evidence to date of viruses that cause respiratory illnesses being transmitted via food or food packaging," says the WHO. "Coronaviruses cannot multiply in food; they need an animal or human host to multiply." While people can get the disease by touching something and then touching their nose, mouth, or even eyes, the CDC says it isn't a common way for the virus to spread. (More coronavirus stories.)

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