Imported Cherries Test Positive: Can Eating Fruit Transmit the Virus?

On January 22, according to the Jiangsu Province Wuxi Liangxi District Center for Disease Control, an imported cherries inside surface nucleic acid test positive, through the collection of environmental, articles, personnel specimens 199, the test results are negative.

After the news came out, # wuxi an imported cherries surface tested positive # immediately rushed to the hot search with anxiety.

Coincidentally, on January 14, three samples of imported ice cream bars in Tianjin were also tested positive. Frequent news made cold chain food questioned again:

The cherries have the virus?
Can you still buy cold chain imported food?

If accidentally eat this kind of food, whether can infect the virus?

In that case, what can we do with our food?

First, the conclusion: there’s no need to panic about a positive nucleic acid test for a food. Buy a good cherries and don’t throw them away.

Next, we ask experts to talk specifically about XX food nucleic acid test positive in the end what is going on?
What does this information mean?

1 food nucleic acid test positive why suddenly become more?

In the recent period of time, the number of positive nucleic acid tests in imported goods is more than before, which is actually a normal phenomenon, which is mainly related to two reasons:

Many countries are still in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak, with a large number of new cases occurring every day.

China entered winter, low temperature will prolong the survival time of the virus.

Not only novel coronavirus, many viruses are cold resistant, heat resistant, very cold resistant.

Studies have shown that novel coronavirus has been stored at 4 °C for 14 days with almost no inactivation.

In addition to physical conditions, whether it is seafood processing plants, trade and logistics stations, or fresh markets, these places are relatively closed, low temperature and humidity, crowded, full of physical labor and deep breathing brought by Shouting, more conducive to the spread of the virus.

But don’t panic. That doesn’t mean a variety of foods can spread novel coronavirus.

Detects positive of 2 food nucleic acid, can you infect a person?

Don’t worry too much.

On the one hand, there is no conclusive evidence of novel coronavirus transmission through the digestive tract.

On the other hand, having a positive nucleic acid test, and being infectious, are two different things, and that has to do with how nucleic acid testing works.

A complete virus consists of an outer protein shell and a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) inside. We seldom detect viruses directly now because of the very complex equipment (electron microscopy, etc.) that can only be done in a few laboratories.

We often use cheaper and easier nucleic acid tests to determine whether a person is infected with a virus.
The most commonly used method is RT-PCR, which detects viral nucleic acids by amplification of nucleic acid fragments.

Simply put, as long as there is a fragment of viral nucleic acid, can be tested positive, does not mean that there is a complete, live virus.

For example, after the patient is cured, the live virus is cleared by the immune system, but the nucleic acid fragments of the virus may still exist in the body, so some patients may still show positive nucleic acid test after a period of time after discharge, but it does not mean that there is complete viral nucleic acid in the body, let alone the presence of live virus.
For example, the virus might stick to the surface of some long-haul cold-chain cargo, allowing it to travel across borders.

But unlike bacteria, which can survive independently, viruses must replicate inside host cells. There is no host cell on the surface of these goods that Novel Coronavirus can replicate, so the virus will gradually break down and lose its vitality.

It’s like after the crash we can find pieces of the plane on the ground, but the plane itself is broken up.

At one extreme, DNA can be preserved for hundreds of thousands of years in some frozen fossils, but the organism itself may have long since become extinct.

Novel coronavirus to be infectious, must have two characteristics, live virus + viral load is high enough, both cannot be missing.

So just because the cherries have positive nucleic acids on their surfaces doesn’t mean they’re infectious.
Later test results also confirmed this point, the detection personnel collected a total of 199 environmental, articles, personnel samples, test results are negative, indicating that the surface of the nucleic acid detection of the cherries, did not cause human infection.

Of course, if you’re really worried, eat a different fruit.

3 Imported food

Especially cold chain imported food is still edible?

On the whole, it is reassuring.

From the actual statistical data, cold chain food detection of novel coronavirus nucleic acid positive probability is still very low.

According to the news released by the press conference of the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council in November last year, the positive rate of sampling inspection of imported cold chain food across the country was 0.048%, and it was mainly concentrated on the outer package of food.

Relevant departments are very strict in the control of imported cold chain food. At present, imported cold chain food is not allowed to be marketed without nucleic acid test report.

According to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been no known cases of Covid-19 infection from eating imported cold-chain food.

So for ordinary consumers, there is no need to panic too much.
Of course, if you’re really anxious, you can always choose locally produced food during an outbreak.

4 Special times

How to handle food at ease?

In fact, no matter have epidemic situation, we do a good job of daily protection is still necessary, because the bacterial contamination of food appears the probability of health problems, actually bigger than the infection of novel coronavirus itself.

Even if you unknowingly buy a potentially risky product, don’t worry too much: Reheat is best, and only eat raw fruit. If you’re really worried, rinse it under water for a while, or use a fruit and vegetable cleaner.

Novel coronavirus, like most viruses, has an Achilles heel: a fear of heat.

A virus is essentially a protein shell containing a small amount of genetic material.
Heating denatures proteins and inactivates genetic material, thus killing the virus.
Heating to 56 °C and holding for 30 minutes will kill a novel coronavirus, boiling it faster.

You can minimize the risk of eating the virus by paying attention to the following tips when shopping and cooking:

Rinse fresh food carefully;

Fruits, vegetables, meat separately processed, raw and cooked food chopping board and knives should also be separated;

Cooking the ingredients that need to be heated can also prevent bacteria and parasites.

Wash your hands carefully before and after handling ingredients.

Winter is coming, the epidemic has been repeated, and there have been a lot of new positive news recently. At this time, it is more important not to believe rumors and respond scientifically. After all, we have just overcome one winter like this, and we will overcome the second one.