Shenzhen adds more coronavirus tests for frozen food imports
The Chinese port city of Shenzhen now requires additional tests on frozen meat and seafood after detecting traces of COVID-19 on food imports last week.
Reuters reports that the city government announced the move on its microblog on 17 August. It has set up a central warehouse where all imported foods must be cleared through customs. While there, the cargoes will undergo further COVID-19 tests before being sold or processed in the city.
The new warehouse, expected to begin operations on 18 August, will sterilise outer packaging and run coronavirus tests on samples of frozen meat and seafood.
Reuters goes on to report that any business storing, selling or processing imported meat and seafood must have a certificate showing it has cleared the warehouse inspections.
The new requirements demonstrate lingering concerns that imported food could introduce the virus to a new environment despite experts at the World Health Organisation saying that the risk of COVID-19 entering the food chain is negligible.
China has also suspended imports from dozens of processing plants that have reported coronavirus cases among workers.
