(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) Why are imported cold chain foods frequently exposed to the risk of epidemics?

　　China News Service, Beijing, November 14 (Reporter Li Yanan) Following the recent diagnosis of cold chain related personnel in Tianjin and the positive nucleic acid of the new coronavirus in the outer packaging of cold chain food, China has sounded "alerts" for imported cold chain food testing.

　　In the past two days, 4 packages of frozen products in Quanzhou, Fujian, 3 packages of imported Brazilian beef in Wuhan, Hubei, 1 package of frozen shrimps in Lanzhou, Gansu, 1 package of imported frozen beef products in Jining, Shandong, and frozen foods and packages imported from Jinan, Shandong All specimens were positive for the new coronavirus nucleic acid.

　　Why has the cold chain link repeatedly become the "latency" of the new coronavirus?

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out in an interview that the low temperature environment created by the cold chain provides a good space for the virus to survive.

In an environment of minus 20 degrees Celsius, the virus can generally survive for several months.

Even with ordinary cold chain transportation, the virus can survive for several weeks.

　　As the Beijing, Dalian, and Qingdao epidemics were all exposed to cold chains before, and during the source traceability of the Qingdao epidemic in October, live viruses were detected from cold chain packaging. It was confirmed for the first time that the new coronavirus can be spread through the cold chain. Sampling inspection of cold chain food.

　　However, according to media reports, in some regions, when conducting imported cold chain epidemic prevention and control work, although they will comprehensively collect information based on the latest global epidemic situation, and scientifically determine the types and batches of goods for sampling, the large number of imported cold chain foods also involves transportation, It is difficult to spot all viruses through random inspections in various links such as storage, processing and packaging, and sales.

　　Chinese officials have recently issued the "Work Plan for Preventive and Comprehensive Disinfection of Imported Cold Chain Foods", which requires comprehensive preventive disinfection treatment before imported cold chain food comes into contact with domestic personnel for the first time, so as to minimize the import of new crown virus through imported cold chain food from the source risk.

It also makes specific regulations on the elimination of cold chain logistics, including ports, cold chain transportation and storage, and circulation. It also explicitly prohibits the listing of imported cold chain foods that have not been fully disinfected.

　　Prior to this, the official also issued the "Technical Guidelines for the Prevention, Control and Disinfection of New Coronavirus in the Production and Operation of Cold Chain Foods", which stipulated relevant regulations for the disinfection of cold chain food production and processing and catering processing.

　　At present, all parts of the country have strengthened the prevention and control of cold chain food from purchase to consumer terminals. Residents in some areas can obtain inspection and quarantine certificates by scanning the code, so that imported cold chain food can be traced back to its source, circulation and destination. ".

Under this circumstance, when consumers are faced with various imported cold-chain foods, they are expected to gradually relieve their excessive worry.

　　Although cold chain related epidemics and confirmed cases have attracted widespread attention, some experts have pointed out that, including the recent confirmed incidents of cold chain related personnel in Tianjin, there is still insufficient evidence to support the formation of a clear cold chain infection chain.

　　Some disease control experts pointed out that the traceability of the epidemic itself is very complicated and difficult. At present, the most important thing is to check for risks through flow regulation and precise nucleic acid screening and control the spread of the epidemic.

　　"The new outbreak in Beijing made us pay attention to frozen products for cold chain transportation for the first time." Wu Zunyou said that the Dalian epidemic prompted China to strengthen the management of frozen meat and seafood practitioners operating in the cold chain. The Qingdao epidemic is During the active regular monitoring of cold chain practitioners, asymptomatic infections were found in the early stages of infection, and there was no large-scale spread.

　　William A. Haseltine, a top US biologist and president of the International Convenient Medical Organization, a global health think tank, recently wrote to remind the public that the probability of material transmission may not be as low as people generally think. A study also confirmed that food and food packaging contaminated by the new crown virus are potential sources of new outbreaks or clusters of cases. China has adopted a series of measures including imported cold chain epidemic prevention, which has caused the country to add new diagnoses over the past few months. The cases have always been maintained at a very low level.

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