China said a handful of packaging samples of imported shrimp tested positive for the coronavirus, raising questions again over whether the pathogen can spread through food or frozen products.
The virus tested positive on the outside of about five shrimp packages and the inside of one shipping container, said China’s General Administration of Customs. The samples were from three Ecuadorian plants, and imports from those processors will be halted, it said. A leading Ecuadorian shrimp exporter disputed the findings.
Imported shrimp from three Ecuadorian companies are being pulled off shelves across China after the novel coronavirus was detected on packaging.
To eliminate epidemic and food safety risks, China has suspended imports from the three producers. Six samples recently collected from inside shipping containers and the outer packaging of frozen white shrimp tested positive for the coronavirus, the General Administration of Customs, the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation said in a notice released on Friday.
In addition to suspending imports from the three companies, customs across China must intensify supervision to make sure all frozen shrimp they produced after March 12 are returned to Ecuador or recalled from the domestic market to eliminate food safety risks and protect public health, the notice said.
China last month pointed to imported salmon as a possible culprit for Beijing’s fresh Covid-19 outbreak, sparking a boycott of the fish as supermarkets took the produce off their shelves. China also began mass testing of cold food imports at ports, and blocked shipments from meat plants abroad that reported infections among workers.