Thousands of imported food samples test negative for coronavirus: officials

More than 3,400 imported cold-storage food samples have undergone nucleic acid testing at the city's designated transfer storage facilities since a new food-testing mechanism took effect on November 16, and samples with released results were all negative for coronavirus, Shanghai's market watchdog told a press conference on Monday. 

"The city has imposed closed-loop management on imported cold-storage food and the mechanism was established to further prevent the risks from imported cold-storage foods," said Xu Jin, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation.

All high-risk imported cold-storage foods to be stored, manufactured, processed or sold in Shanghai are subject to testing for coronavirus and having their packaging disinfected at designated facilities from November 16.

Only foods that have been tested and disinfected at the city's customs and are cleared by customs authorities are exempt, the administration said. 

So far, the city has selected one public transfer testing venue and 34 company cold-storage facilities that meet criteria for the testing, said Xu. 

Strict records on the tracking of goods are ordered at these facilities as well, said Xu. 

As of Sunday night, 3,420 food samples had been collected at these locations, and the nucleic acid testing results of 2,432 have been released, all negative, said Xu. 

The latest move comes on the heels of positive reports of coronavirus on the packaging of imported frozen food products in several cities in China.

About 130,000 cold-storage food samples from large agriculture and wet markets, supermarkets and cold storage have been tested so far and all were negative to coronavirus, said Xu. 

"We have ordered food businesses to strictly check the documents of food products, impose strict hygiene and personnel health management measures, and stick to standard processing procedures and the disinfection of dishware," Xu told the press conference. 

A total of 405 cold-storage food manufacturing, processing, transfer, storage and transportation companies and catering service businesses have been included in the city's food-tracking system, and about 3 million pieces of tracing data and information on meat, aquatic products and other cold-storage foods have been uploaded, according to Xu.