China Finds COVID Traces on Imported Prawns

Today China suspended imports of frozen white shrimp from three different Ecuadorian companies distributing goods to the Asian country after remains of coronavirus were found in its packaging, the General Administration of Customs reported.

In a statement, that department reported that nucleic acid tests carried out on shrimp packaging from Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila, Empacreci and Edpacif were positive for coronavirus and that “there is a risk” that this could further transmit the virus.

The agency also asks Ecuadorian companies for the “immediate withdrawal” of their frozen shrimp produced after March 12 and requires them to take them back or destroy them.

It specifies that the tests carried out on the outer packages were positive, whilst the shrimp and inner packages were negative. Likewise, it indicates that the food safety management system of these companies is not adequate enough.

At the beginning of June, a new outbreak of the virus was detected in a wholesale market in Beijing that, according to local experts, would have originated in Europe, although how it got there is still unknown.

So far, it has emerged that the virus was detected on a salmon cutting board, but according to experts, there is no evidence that the infected became infected by eating contaminated food, including seafood.