China News Service, Beijing, August 13th. Title: New crown virus detected in frozen food in many places. Experts remind people to avoid "disease in the mouth"

　　Author Guo Chaokai Li Yanan

　　On August 12, a surface sample of imported frozen chicken wings in Shenzhen tested positive for the new coronavirus nucleic acid. According to incomplete statistics, since July, nine places across the country have successively tested positive for the new coronavirus in frozen food. Why does frozen food carry the new coronavirus? What are the precautions when buying and eating frozen food? The public is quite concerned about related issues.

　　Total 9 reports in 40 days

　　The Office of the Shenzhen Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters of Guangdong Province announced on August 13 that the Longgang District of Shenzhen carried out inspections of imported cold-chain foods on the 11th, and was reviewed by the Provincial and Municipal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on August 12. The surface samples of frozen chicken wings imported from Brazil tested positive for the new coronavirus nucleic acid. Wuhu City in Anhui Province also reported on the 12th that a sample of Ecuadorian frozen shrimp imported from a restaurant tested positive for the new coronavirus nucleic acid.

　　According to incomplete statistics, since July, nine places across the country have tested positive for the new coronavirus in frozen food. The reporter combed and found that in these 9 reports, seafood in Xiamen in Fujian, Dalian in Liaoning, Pingxiang in Jiangxi, Shapingba District in Chongqing, and Wuhu in Anhui were all imported from Ecuador, while frozen food in Shenzhen Longgang and Yunnan was also produced in Latin America. .

　　Currently, the new crown epidemic in Latin America is still not optimistic. As of 16:00 on August 13, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Ecuador has exceeded 97,000, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Latin America has exceeded 5.6 million. Liang Zongan, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of West China Hospital of Sichuan University, pointed out in an interview with the media that this situation is mainly related to the serious epidemic abroad and the easier contamination of frozen food processing.

　　Liang Zongan said that frozen food is usually stored in a low-temperature environment, and the lower the temperature of the environment, the longer the virus can be stored, so it is easy to find new coronaviruses in frozen food or on its packaging.

　　The food itself is very unlikely to be contaminated by the virus

　　It is worth noting that the samples that tested positive for the new crown virus in Shenzhen, Guangdong and Wuhu, Anhui were all outer packages of frozen food. In this regard, Liang Zongan said that the virus detected in the outer packaging of frozen food is not the virus detected in the seafood "in vivo". There is an essential difference between the two.

　　"There is no need to panic in the face of this situation. The positive detection of the new crown virus in the packaging of seafood products is mostly because the packaging is contaminated with the virus and the virus survives because of the transportation and storage environment." Liang Zongan said, a large number of samples from various places The test found that the virus was not detected in the "body" of the frozen food, which indicates that the probability of the food itself being contaminated by the virus is very small, and the probability of the virus being transmitted through the food is relatively small.

　　Li Ning, deputy director and researcher of China's National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, also said before that, as of July 7, the nucleic acid test results of the new coronavirus in nearly 60,000 food and other samples reported in Zhejiang, Yunnan, Henan, Shandong, Ningxia and other places All are negative; "On the whole, the probability of food being contaminated by the new coronavirus is very small."

　　In fact, since the customs in Xiamen and Dalian in July tested positive for the new coronavirus in the outer packaging samples of imported products from three Ecuadorian companies, the General Administration of Customs of China has decided to suspend the three companies in order to protect the health of consumers. For the import of products, the temporarily detained goods shall be returned and destroyed. At present, all parts of the country have strengthened the surveillance of the new coronavirus in food and other samples.

　　Experts remind people to avoid "disease in the mouth"

　　How do people avoid "disease in the mouth" when eating imported frozen products? Relevant experts pointed out that it is necessary to start from three aspects: customs inspection, food purchase, and food processing.

　　Recently, the General Administration of Customs of China has strengthened the source control of imported cold chain food. The first is to insist on moving the barrier forward, requiring the government departments of all 105 countries or regions that export cold chain food to China to take preventive measures to ensure the safety of food exported to China; the second is to carry out remote video inspections; the third is to target meat from some countries in the near future. Aquatic products companies have a cluster of infections and take measures such as suspending the import of their products.

　　When buying frozen foods, experts recommend that you try to avoid direct contact with your hands; after you buy frozen foods and go home, you can disinfect them with 75% alcohol; when storing such products, it is best to use independent closed packaging.

　　Li Ning reminded the public to keep in mind the five points recommended by the World Health Organization in food handling: first, food must be washed carefully before processing, and splashes of water must be prevented during cleaning; second, food must be cooked thoroughly. , The general cooking temperature can kill the new coronavirus; third, raw and cooked food should be separated; fourth, after cooking and processing, clean and disinfect countertops, containers, kitchen utensils, etc.; fifth, cultivate Good hygiene, avoid touching your mouth, eyes and nose with dirty hands during food handling. (Finish)