Catering firms told to stay on high alert

Catering service providers across China need to remain on high alert and carry out COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control measures strictly while resuming business, a national association said in an emergency notice amid the latest outbreak of the coronavirus in Beijing.

The notice, released on Sunday by the China Cuisine Association, said catering providers must intensify self-inspection to eliminate food safety risks, covering key foods such as both fresh and frozen meat, poultry and aquatic products and key places including cold storage rooms.

Catering enterprises, including restaurants that provide food delivery services, are banned from buying, storing or using food from unknown sources. They should screen foods that are deemed to pose higher risks, such as certain kinds of seafood, to ensure all the materials are traceable, the association said.

They are also required to have thorough inspections of food processing, cleaning and sterilization of tableware and the health condition of their employees.

The notice was released following the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Beijing, with dozens of confirmed cases reported as of Sunday. The outbreak seems to be linked with Xinfadi, a major wholesale market of agricultural and aquatic products in the city, and cutting boards for salmon in the market tested positive for the virus, authorities said. The market has been closed and massive testing has been conducted on residents linked with the market.

Although tracing of the origin of the outbreak is still underway, it is suspected that imported salmon, tainted with the virus, might be a possible source of the transmission for the latest outbreak in Beijing. The novel coronavirus can survive in very low temperatures, making wet markets with cold storage for seafood ideal places for transmission of the virus, some experts said.

The possible link between the outbreak and salmon has affected sales of the fish in China. Salmon has been removed from the shelves of many major retailers, and sales of it also decreased on e-commerce platforms. More customers have asked for refunds or choose to eat cooked salmon instead of raw salmon, according to media reports.

Zeng Guang, a senior researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the source of the transmission is still not clear, and he suggests people do not eat raw salmon at the moment.

Share prices of salmon-related stocks also saw declines on Monday. Joyvio Group, whose salmon business makes up nearly 40 percent of its total, saw its shares fall 3.68 percent and close at 11.77 yuan ($1.66) on Monday. Last year, Joyvio acquired a 99.8 percent share of Chilean salmon company Australis Seafoods SA, signaling China's first merger in the premium overseas upstream salmon sector.

The company said the domestic salmon industry is expected to face a new round of reorganization, but it believed the long-term growth prospects for salmon won't change. The traditional salmon trade has multiple problems, it is difficult to ensure safety and hard to trace the source, and industrial upgrading is imperative, the company said.

Shandong Oriental Ocean Sci-Tech Co, another company for whom salmon is a major part of its businesses, saw its shares decline 1.62 percent and close at 1.82 yuan per share in Monday trading.

Following the outbreak, some other places have intensified inspection of salmon and other seafood for safety.

In Yunnan province, authorities inspected 1,817 samples collected from seafood, such as salmon, shrimp and crabs, sold in various markets and restaurants, as well as cutting boards and vendors over the weekend, and all tested negative for the coronavirus, according to the provincial authority.