Beijing inspects refrigerated food storehouses as COVID-19 precaution

BEIJING -- Beijing has been inspecting storehouses of refrigerated meat and aquatic products as part of its efforts to guard against COVID-19 "importation" through cold-chain foods.

At a press conference on COVID-19 prevention and control on Thursday, the city's market regulation administration said authorities had inspected 4,719 such storehouses. Seafood products from three companies were removed from the shelves during the inspection.

A total of 86,900 nucleic acid samples were collected from the food items, personnel and local environment of the storehouses, and all have tested negative, said Chen Yankai, deputy director of the administration.

The official said the city has taken a series of measures to beef up safety monitoring of cold-chain foods, including regular nucleic acid tests in food markets and supermarkets, as well as urging producers to enhance disinfection and ventilation measures.

China's customs authority said earlier this month that they had detected the novel coronavirus in the packaging of imported frozen shrimps, raising concerns that the low temperatures in the cold chain could help the virus sneak into the country.