National Post (National Edition)

Can you catch COVID-19 from meat?

‘The chances are very close to zero’

- NAOMI POWELL Financial Post npowell@nationalpo­st.com Twitter: naomi_powell

The odds of contractin­g COVID-19 by eating food processed in a slaughterh­ouse impacted by outbreaks are “close to zero,” food safety experts say.

Food processing plants have been hard hit by outbreaks of COVID-19, with many forced to temporaril­y shut down as the fast-moving virus spreads among workers. The Cargill plant south of Calgary has taken the toughest blows, with 921 cases of the virus recorded among 2,000 employees.

Though the scale of that outbreak demonstrat­es just how quickly COVID-19 can move between people, it does not mean that the meat products carry the potential to infect as well, said Siyun Wang, associate professor of food safety engineerin­g at the University of British Columbia.

“The key here is that the coronaviru­s is not considered a food borne pathogen which means it doesn’t transmit through food,” Wang said. “So the chances are very close to zero. It passes through person to person contact. That is why it impacts our respirator­y system, not our digestive systems.”

Though there is always a “theoretica­l possibilit­y,” of infection, the likelihood that the virus could survive on meat or its packaging for very long is “extremely low” said Professor Jeffrey Farber, professor of food science at the University of Guelph.

“The virus can only live off of our cells,” Farber said. “Once it gets off of us, the number of infectious particles decreases dramatical­ly.”

What’s more, the measures taken by meat processors to prevent the spread of the virus between workers has also significan­tly reduced the likelihood that it will come into contact with products, he added. Among the personal protective equipment now assigned to workers are face masks, face shields, gowns and gloves.

“I don’t think anyone will be sneezing on your meat,” he said. “So the likelihood of the virus being on packaging is already in low numbers when it leaves the plant and even lower numbers when it reaches your kitchen.”

Also, COVID-19 is known as an “envelope virus” with a lipid layer that degrades very easily and makes it particular­ly susceptibl­e to disinfecta­nts and heat, food safety experts say.

That makes washing your hands and practising proper food handling techniques a powerful tool for fighting the virus’ spread.

“There’s no way it survives cooking,” said Dr. Jennifer Ronholm, a professor of agricultur­al and environmen­tal sciences at McGill University.

At this time, there have been no reported cases of food or food packaging being associated with the transmissi­on of COVID-19, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

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