COVID-free food: a URV study confirms that hygienically handled foods are safe

COVID-free power supply: The Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) has just published a comprehensive study on the possibility of transmission of respiratory viruses - COVID-19 and SARS - in human food. Researchers have analysed both foods that are eaten raw - such as fruit and vegetables - and those that are cooked before consumption. 

The conclusions of the research have been most promising for the catering sector: "Cooked food and fresh food handled under hygienic conditions do not pose significant risks for transmission of respiratory viruses."

COVID-free food: the pandemic transforms the catering business and poses new challenges for bar and restaurant hygiene.

If there is a economic sector which for many months has had serious difficulties in moving forward because of the COVID-19 pandemic - in addition to the nightlife and the tourism-is undoubtedly the restorationor, in other words, the bars y restaurants.

Since March 2020, these establishments have seen their activity limited, with a large number of new businesses being set up.restrictions imposed by the central government and the autonomous communities. These protocols, updated almost weekly, and often immediately applicable, have meant a huge effort for restaurateurs to continually update their businesses to comply with the permitted.

At the same time, they have had a tremendous impact on the short-term planning capacity of these businesses. And not only at a forecasting level of gender orders and management of the company: also at the level of human resources, people working in bars and restaurants have had to adapt their work situation from one day to the next.  

After the state of emergency where, for months, bars and restaurants were not allowed to serve food in their establishments, a decentralised model -applied, with notable differences, by the Autonomous Communities- has been adopted for dealing with the pandemic. So today, as we advance through the COVID-19 waves and, according to the indicators that each Autonomous Community considers reasonable, we are now in the process of implementing a decentralised model,  the catering industry has been developing protocols to be followed: both at the level of timetablesas of permitted activities in the same businesses, as of personnel management and hygiene. 

Now that some time has passed, and we have somewhat normalised basic precautions as the HAND WASHINGthe use of masks and the social distanceseems like a good time to start review which are real situations of potential contagion and which do not present a real risk. In this regard, there have been a number of hoaxes and superstitions about the possibility of being infected orally through food consumption.

Thanks to the study by three members of the Laboratory of Toxicology and Environmental Health of the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) - researchers Neus González, Montse Marquès and José L Domingo - we finally have some more information about the possibilities of becoming infected through food.

The URV is researching the existing literature on the transmission of respiratory viruses through food.

The study by the group of scientists from the Toxicology and Environmental Health Laboratory has consisted of the review of existing scientific data on the respiratory viruses in food and on the transmission of respiratory viruses through potentially contaminated food. And the conclusion they have reached leaves little room for interpretation: ".Respiratory viruses are not transmitted through food.".

Let us remember: Coronaviruses are viruses that affect the respiratory system. There is not only COVID-19 -known in the scientific community as SARS-CoV-2-, but it is a 'family' of viruses that includes other viruses such as SARS-CoV-1 or MERS-CoV, which have had little incidence in Spain.

The research, published under the title Respiratory viruses in foods and their potential transmission through the diet: A review of the literature includes three complementary statements that safeguard both the safety of raw and cooked food and the safety of catering businesses that comply with pandemic protocols. 

1. The cooking of foodThe high temperatures, thanks to the high temperatures, allow deactivating respiratory viruses.

 

2. The fresh foodsuch as fruits and vegetables, could become virus transmitters or bacteria. But simply with the usual pre-consumption washing would eliminate the possibility of infection. through this channel.

 

3. Eating in those restaurants that comply with all established protocolsand from a strict point of view of the food consumed, should not pose a risk of infection -by respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.