Côtes-d'Armor, Loiret ... In recent days, two new clusters of coronavirus have been identified in French abattoirs. Outbreaks that appear only a few days after the start of deconfinement and which raise several questions, including that of a possible danger in consuming the meat from these establishments. "Even if we do not yet know the origin of the contamination in these slaughterhouses, there is no risk linked to the meat", ensures the microphone of Europe 1 Jimmy Mohamed, doctor and columnist.
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Several studies have concluded that farm animals are not susceptible to the disease. As for the famous droplets that workers could deposit on dead meat, their viral load lasts only a few hours if they do not arise on a living organism. The meat is also passed through a food processor in various ways and is therefore no more dangerous than any other consumer product.
In case of doubts, the National Agency for Food, Environmental Health Safety (ANSES) recommends cooking the meat for several minutes at 60 degrees in order to avoid all risks.
A problem that is found in many countries
In late April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the number of employees at Covid-19 positive meat and poultry processing plants at nearly 5,000. In Germany, more than 90 cases have been discovered in recent days in a slaughterhouse in Lower Saxony, after several hundred others in several regions since April.
"This therefore raises the question of screening workers" in this industry which never stopped during the coronavirus crisis, says Jimmy Mohamed. "Maybe there should be weekly screening? But only the future will tell."
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"The epidemic is clearly not over"
Faced with these unknowns, the doctor prefers to focus on the facts and "learn a few lessons" from the situation. The first of these is that "the epidemic is clearly not over". But it is also proof that the "Covid-19 develops more easily when there is proximity in an enclosed place, with many people in the same room, and sometimes an inefficient ventilation system". And to remember that the situation is even worse if these people "eat, talk, or sing".
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Towards a strengthening of protection measures?
Calling for vigilance, Jimmy Mohamed also points out that these new sources of French contamination "arise in the green zones" of the deconfinement card put in place by the government. That is, where the virus circulates the least. Which makes the doctor say that "it might be necessary to reinforce the measures of physical distancing, and above all to wear a mask in all enclosed spaces."