VIRUS: Employees of the factory where the ice cream was made were quarantined and tested for coronavirus
Three samples of ice made by a company in northern China have tested positive for the coronavirus. Tests had been carried out on these foods by the municipal centre for disease control. The 1,662 employees of the company have been quarantined and subjected to a screening of coronavirus Covid-19. Health authorities estimate that 4,836 boxes of contaminated ice have been produced. 2,089 of them were sealed within the factory itself, reports Sky News.
Of the remaining 2,747 boxes, 935 were located in Tianjin. Only 65 had been marketed. Caution is advised to consumers who have purchased them. They must inform their relatives of their state of health and of their possible movements. Products shipped to other Chinese provinces are also being traced.
“No reason to panic”
“There is probably no reason to panic”, however, estimated the British virologist Stephen Griffin, who leans for an “isolated event” due to a hygiene problem in the factory. “Each scoop of ice cream is not going to be contaminated with the coronavirus all at once. “
The storage temperature of ice cream and the fats that go into their composition may explain the survival of the virus in the samples tested, said the scientist. Analyzes have shown that whey protein from Ukraine and powdered milk produced in New Zealand were among the raw materials used to make these ice creams.
