More than 10 provinces have detected positive nucleic acid on imported cold chain food or packaging
How to keep the cold chain from dropping
On the morning of November 12th, the Tianjin Jinnan District Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that a mixed sample was positive for nucleic acid in a cold storage at Jinfulin Wholesale Market.
The day before, a copy of imported halibut with a positive outer package was found in an aquatic product wholesale store in Jinghai District.
Since Tianjin notified the 138th local case, imported cold chain food has become the focus of epidemic prevention and control.
In the early morning of November 8, a cold storage loading and unloading worker in the city was diagnosed with new coronary pneumonia.
The patient’s biggest suspicion is that he had been in contact with a batch of frozen pig elbows that arrived in Tianjin from Bremerhaven, Germany 20 days ago.
Gene sequencing results showed that the virus was highly similar to the strains circulating in North America from March to June, and belonged to the L genotype European family branch II (North American branch).
Subsequently, a new confirmed case was added in Tianjin, who drove a truck to the same cold storage to load goods.
Another asymptomatic infection was found in the city's cold chain practitioners and frozen goods nucleic acid testing.
In recent months, imported cold chain foods have frequently been found to have tested positive for nucleic acid, which has become the main cause of repeated epidemics in individual areas.
Why does cold chain food become the "latency" of the virus?
How big is the demand for imported cold chain food in my country?
In view of its potential risks, how should various departments scientifically prevent and control them?
More than 10 provinces have detected positive nucleic acid on imported cold chain food or packaging
On November 7, Tianjin Binhai New Area Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters received a special report from the cold chain food COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control work in Decheng District, Dezhou City, Shandong Province, before frozen pigs imported from Germany through the Dongjiang Bonded Port Area of Binhai New Area The nucleic acid test of the new coronavirus on the outer packaging of the elbow was weakly positive.
Two days ago, this batch of 28.1 tons of cargo was sent from Tianjin Port Hailian Cold Storage, and on the day it arrived at the Feima Market in Decheng District, it underwent routine nucleic acid sampling inspections.
After the three-level disease control departments of Decheng District, Dezhou City, and Shandong Province, the results were confirmed to be positive.
Tianjin Port is an important import port for China's cold chain food, and imported frozen meat accounts for nearly one-third of the country's meat imports.
Because the goods involved in the epidemic have flowed into Dezhou, Shandong, Taiyuan, Shanxi, and Baoding, Hebei, the three places immediately stepped up investigations.
The reporter combed and found that since June this year, more than 10 provinces including Beijing, Liaoning, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, etc., have detected positive for the new coronavirus nucleic acid on imported cold chain food or packaging.
On June 11, after there were no new local confirmed cases in Beijing for 56 consecutive days, local cases reappeared, and the "source" of the infection was locked as the new agricultural wholesale market.
A paper jointly published by Beijing Center for Disease Control, Beijing Preventive Medicine Research Center, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other units later pointed out that the new outbreak virus in Beijing originated in the seafood area where chilled salmon is located.
On July 3, Dalian Customs detected the new coronavirus nucleic acid positive in a sample of the inner wall of a container loaded with frozen vannamei shrimp produced in Ecuador and three outer packaging samples of the shrimp.
Starting from July 22, staff in the seafood processing workshop of Dalian Kaiyang World Seafood Co., Ltd. have been notified of the infection with the new crown virus.
The characteristics of the epidemic suggest that the processing workplace of frozen seafood products is conducive to the spread of the new crown virus.
In late September, an epidemic in Qingdao Port emerged.
On the 24th, two cold chain product handlers were diagnosed as asymptomatic infections during the inspection of the "all inspections" personnel.
In the subsequent traceability of the epidemic, live virus was detected and isolated from the positive samples of imported frozen cod outer packaging. This was the first time in the world, suggesting that "the new coronavirus has the possibility of long-distance cross-border import by using cold chain goods as the carrier."
The new outbreak in Beijing lasted 40 days, with a total of 335 confirmed cases, of which 5 were critical and 21 were severe; the “7.22” epidemic in Dalian lasted 39 days, with a total of 92 locally confirmed cases and 26 local asymptomatic infections reported. At the time of the Qingdao port epidemic, only 2 cases of asymptomatic infection were found, and all close contacts were released from isolation after 16 days.
"The three outbreaks were discovered earlier than the other, and their scales are getting smaller and smaller. This is the result of our continuous learning and summarizing of experience, and timely detection of early infections can control the epidemic in the bud." According to Wu Zunyou, chief expert in epidemiology at the Control Center.
Fresh food imports are highly dependent on cold chain logistics, which is accompanied by a potential risk of infection
In recent years, the consumption level of Chinese residents has continued to increase, and the volume of imported food has increased rapidly.
On November 7, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Food, Native Produce and Animal Husbandry issued the "Report on China's Imported Food Industry in 2020", which pointed out that China's imported food amounted to US$90.81 billion in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 23.4%, with 189 sources.
In terms of value, among the 17 categories, the top three are meat and products, aquatic products and products, and dairy products, with imports exceeding 10 billion U.S. dollars.
The top five sources of food imports are New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Brazil.
The top three ports are Shanghai port, Tianjin port and Shenzhen port.
According to the report, although the current new crown epidemic has greatly affected international exchanges, it is expected that imported food will continue to maintain double-digit growth in 2020.
Among the many imported foods, a considerable number of categories, including fresh food, are highly dependent on cold chain logistics.
Compared with ordinary logistics, cold chain logistics has three characteristics, also known as the 3T principle, that is, product quality depends on the cold chain storage temperature (Temperature), circulation time (Time), and storage resistance (Tolerance).
"The core of cold chain logistics is the whole process of continuous chaining. Once the chain is broken and the temperature is released, it will have an irreversible impact on the goods. Even if the following links are done well, it is futile." Secretary of the Cold Chain Logistics Professional Committee of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing Chang Qin Yuming said.
Under the epidemic, the cold chain logistics is accompanied by a potential risk of infection.
Wu Zunyou said that even in ordinary cold chain transportation, the virus can survive for several weeks.
If it is contaminated items in areas with a high incidence of new crown epidemics, including food or outer packaging, they can be transported through the cold chain to bring the virus to a non-epidemic area, thereby causing contact transmission.
To make up for the lack of domestic supply, imported cold chain food cannot be "one size fits all" and a total ban
So, should we stop importing cold chain foods in a “one size fits all” manner, as individual voices call for?
The industry believes that, for the time being, this is "to stop eating because of choking, which is not realistic."
The reason is that the risk prevention and control of cold chain products has entered the new normal stage of epidemic prevention.
Qin Yuming pointed out that on the one hand, foreign epidemics continue to spread, one after another, many countries ushered in the second wave of epidemic peaks in autumn and winter; on the other hand, China needs a large number of imported products to make up for the lack of domestic supply, so it must not be all imported products. Turn it away-this is already consensus and common sense.
Consumers do not need to worry too much, but they need to pay attention to food hygiene and take daily precautions.
Li Fengqin, director of the Microbiology Laboratory of the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment, said that a large amount of scientific data shows that food will not be infected with the new crown virus, but it may be contaminated: one is contaminated by water and packaging materials that contain the virus, and the other is food that carries the virus. Contamination of processors.
Li Fengqin suggested that operations should be strictly regulated in the production and operation process, and the food processing environment including food packaging materials should be disinfected. It is strictly forbidden for virus carriers or infected persons to sell food.
"At present, both the customs and other departments have deployed strict inspection, disinfection and control methods. The problematic goods exposed are a very small part of the overall goods." Qin Yuming said.
Improve the efficiency of port customs clearance and ensure the stability of the industrial chain supply chain
On November 12, at a press conference on the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, Bi Kexin, director of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs, said that the national customs has further increased the quarantine of imported cold chain foods.
The first is to further strengthen source control and communicate and negotiate with the competent authorities of all 109 countries that have cold chain food export to China.
The second is to suspend the export of products from companies that have been infected by a cluster of employees to China, involving 99 manufacturing companies in 20 countries.
The third is to strengthen the risk monitoring of imported cold chain foods for the new coronavirus. A total of 873475 samples were sampled and tested, and 13 positive nucleic acid results were detected.
The fourth is to implement emergency preventive measures after the positive is detected.
"Because a sample of a batch of frozen pomfret imported from Indonesia was found to be positive for the new coronavirus nucleic acid, in accordance with the provisions of the General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 103 of 2020, the national customs will suspend acceptance from today..." Open the General Administration of Customs On the official website "Customs Today" channel, the emergency preventive measures for imported food are updated in real time.
According to relevant regulations, if the cold chain food or its packaging is tested positive for the new coronavirus nucleic acid 2 times before, the customs will suspend the acceptance of the import declaration of the company’s product for 1 week. If it is detected 3 times or more, the customs will suspend the acceptance of the import declaration for 4 weeks. .
The "Work Plan for Preventive and Comprehensive Disinfection of Imported Cold Chain Foods" pointed out that it is necessary to "ensure the safety of imported cold chain foods, improve the efficiency of port customs clearance, avoid the backlog of goods in the port, and ensure the stability of the industrial chain supply chain" to achieve "safety, Effective, fast and economical".
According to the characteristics of imported cold chain food logistics, after the completion of the detection and sampling of the new crown virus, the prevention and comprehensive measures should be implemented at the ports of inspection, transportation, storage, wholesale and retail, etc., before the first contact with people in China Disinfection treatment.
Scientific and precise prevention and control, and perfect traceability management to ensure traceability of source and destination
Scientific prevention and precise measures have always been our important experience in the fight against epidemics.
So, what should be done in the face of the potential spreading risk of imported cold chain food?
The reporter combed through the relevant epidemic prevention and control guidelines issued by various regions and found that key links and key places have become common concerns.
Especially for key locations such as processing enterprises and cold storage, agricultural batches, supermarkets, and catering services, localities have strengthened normalized epidemic monitoring and risk early warning in a timely manner.
Experts reminded that special attention should be paid to the disinfection and quarantine of raw materials in the processing and packaging links in the production and operation process.
During transportation and storage, refrigerated storage, vehicles and tools must not be careless.
During the sales process, bazaars and retail enterprises must strictly implement the purchase inspection and registration system, and business units engaged in food wholesale must strictly implement the sales registration system, and pay attention to timely disinfection.
Recently, in an imported fresh food store in Huiji District, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, Mr. Sun expertly opened the mobile Alipay and scanned a QR code on the outer packaging.
"Beep!" The screen showed that this is pangasius from Vietnam, with an inspection and quarantine certificate.
From the first stop of the supply chain to the smallest packaging of products in the consumer link, this "Zheng Cold Chain" system based on Alibaba Cloud and blockchain technology enables imported cold chain food to achieve "tracing of origin, traceability of circulation, and traceability of whereabouts".
Starting from August 18, imported frozen products that are picked up from various ports in Shenzhen and departed and stored, sold and processed in Shenzhen must first enter the centralized supervision warehouse for outer packaging sterilization and sample nucleic acid testing before they can enter the market.
The "centralized supervision warehouse" is the local supervision upgrade after the detection of positive nucleic acid in imported frozen chicken wings.
To prevent problems before they happen, detection is the key.
Wu Zunyou reminded, “We must do a good job in three inspections, one is to sample and test imported products and outer packaging; the other is to regularly sample the working environment of the cold chain business industry to detect pollution; the third is to conduct inspections on cold chain practitioners. No less than once a week nucleic acid screening to detect and eradicate the epidemic in time."
Cold chain prevention and control are incorporated into normal management, and detailed regulations are made for production, loading and unloading, transportation, storage and sales.
A few days ago, the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council issued the "Work Plan for Preventive and Comprehensive Disinfection of Imported Cold Chain Food."
The "Plan" requires that all localities implement the full-process closed-loop control and traceability of imported cold chain food.
The division of labor among customs, transportation, health, market supervision, local governments, and related production and business units has been clarified one by one.
"This is an important policy document for the normalization of my country's new crown epidemic prevention and control." Wu Zunyou said, "After a number of imported cold chain foods caused local new crown epidemics, the country did not simply ban the import of cold chain foods, but controlled them. The new crown epidemic that may be caused by imported cold-chain food contamination is included in normalized management to control the risk to the lowest level."
Previously, the "New Coronary Pneumonia Prevention and Control Plan (Seventh Edition)" has clearly required all localities to implement daily protection, health monitoring, and active nucleic acid screening for employees related to cold chain food, improve production, processing and trading environmental sanitation conditions, and reduce employees Risk of infection.
In mid-October, in order to implement the "external defense import, internal defense rebound" epidemic prevention and control strategy, and effectively strengthen the "civil defense" and "material defense" work, the State Council's joint prevention and joint control mechanism issued the "Cold Chain Food Production and Operation New Coronavirus Prevention and Control Technology" The "Guide" "Technical Guidelines for the Prevention, Control and Disinfection of New Coronavirus in the Process of Cold Chain Food Production and Operation" has made detailed regulations on production, handling, transportation, storage and sales.
For example, what should I do if I find that the nucleic acid of the sample is positive?
In accordance with relevant emergency handling regulations, cold chain food producers and operators should promptly activate their own emergency plan, temporarily seal up related items, treat them in a harmless manner, disinfect the work area, and conduct nucleic acid testing and health screening for those who may be in contact in a timely manner And other measures.
Avoid spills or leaks during transportation when handling related items.
Promote strong supervision with strong supervision, and promote the implementation of various measures for cold chain food epidemic prevention and control
Discipline inspection and supervision organs at all levels are based on their functions and responsibilities, use strong supervision to promote supervision, supervise relevant departments to check at all levels, consolidate supervision responsibilities, and protect the people's "tip of safety".
The Discipline Inspection and Supervision Group of the Tianjin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Municipal Market Supervision Commission supervised and promoted the strengthening of market supervision in the local departments and strictly implemented the inspection system for imported cold chain food disinfection certification.
At the same time, supervise the implementation of the city's imported cold chain goods cold storage and the deployment of nucleic acid testing for employees, and carry out a carpet inspection, and include all cold storage in the city into the data information platform management system to ensure that there are no omissions and no dead ends.
The Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Team of the Dalian Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Municipal Market Supervision Bureau has successively interviewed the persons responsible for food safety supervision and emphasized that it will continue to strengthen the normalization of cold chain food monitoring and supervision for epidemic prevention and control, and do a good job in the prevention and control of risks in storage, processing, and sales. Disposal.
Carried out more than 20 "embedded" supervisions, visited the processing and circulation places of chilled and frozen food, and promoted the implementation of various measures for the prevention and control of cold chain food epidemics.
The Commission for Discipline Inspection of Laixi City, Shandong Province set up 21 supervision and inspection teams to carry out "grid" supervision and visited 1,651 cold chain food production and operation units, involving 3,045 employees.
Supervise the Market Supervision Bureau to send inspectors to 11 key cold chain food production enterprises to supervise the cold chain food entry and exit, outer packaging and sterilization, and the implementation of protective measures for employees.
At present, the world's second wave of epidemics is rebounding. Autumn and winter are the seasons for respiratory infectious diseases. The prevention and control situation is more severe. The string of epidemic prevention and control must be tightened at all times, and the cold chain must be cast into a "safe chain."
(Our reporter Guan Xiaopu)