Just In: Thousands of Boxes of Ice Cream that are locally produced in China are found to be contaminated with Coronavirus. Now, health officials and authorities are employing various measures to trace and find people who might have been affected.
As Daily Mail reports, the testing started with three samples of the ice cream in Tianjin municipality which is in the north east of the country of China. These samples have been found to be positive with the virus. The ice cream boxes have been produced by the Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company. The products are said to be made with ingredients such as milk powder from Ukraine and Whey from New Zealand.
Tianjin Daqiaodao Ice Cream Manufacturers and Buyers Investigated
Moreover, officials have conducted further investigation for possible traces of infection. Results of the investigation show that 4,836 boxes of 450g ice cream are also contaminated with coronavirus. 2,089 of these boxes are now being sealed in storage.
Unfortunately, 1,812 of these boxes have been released and delivered to other provinces. 935 boxes have entered the local food market. According to a news report by China Daily, only 65 out of the 935 boxes have been sold to consumers.
Buyers who purchased the ice cream have now been urged by the local health officials in China to undergo observation and testing so that potential infections could be traced right away. No reports have been released yet with regards to the condition of buyers.
As of the time being, about 1,662 employees from the Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company have been subjected to self-isolation and have undergone testing for coronavirus. Results are still not yet reported.
Read more: More 'Super-Covid' Variants are Coming: Will the Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines Work Against Them?
Virologist Says Ice Cream Contamination Should not Be a Source of Panic
Findings on how the Coronavirus emerged from the ice cream boxes have not yet reported. However, a virologist from the University of Leeds has told Sky News about his opinion on the incident in China.
"Of course, any level of contamination is not acceptable and always a cause for concern, but the chances are that this is the result of an issue with the production plant and potentially down to hygiene at the factory...It's likely this has come from a person, and without knowing the details, I think this is probably a one-off."
He mentioned that the contamination could come from a hygiene issue and could come from one person. He also told the news that the cold temperature from the ice cream along with the presence of fat in the ingredients could explain why coronavirus has survived in that environment.
When asked whether it was a source of concern, he told the news that it shouldn't be a prompt of danger. "We probably don't need to panic that every bit of ice cream is suddenly going to be contaminated with coronavirus," he said. That being said, it might just be an isolated case and should involve rechecking with the factory's hygiene measures.
Related Article: COVID-19 Investigation: WHO Enters China to Start But Two Members Get Positive Antibody Tests
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Written by Nikki Delgado
