Experts have finally unveiled if a person can catch or get infected with COVID-19 from food. A team of experts has recently studied the link between food and COVID-19. 

Food
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Recently, there have been reports about food that can be a potential source of COVID-19 after a frozen chicken product from Brazil has tested positive for the COVID-19.

Several countries had then imposed a temporary ban on poultry meat imports from Brazil. But authorities said people who had contact with the contaminated products were examined and tested negative for the disease. 

The concerns over virus transmission via surfaces began in late March after a study was published in the well-known New England Journal of Medicine.

Jamie Lloyd-Smith, a scientist who studied how long SARS-CoV-2, said the virus that causes COVID-19, might remain on various surfaces. 

"What the study showed is that under certain conditions in the laboratory, which are obviously kind of artificial, SARS-CoV-2 is detectable for up to three hours in aerosols, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel," he explained.

According to a new study on getting COVID-19 from food or food packaging, experts said it is highly unlikely that a person can get the coronavirus from food and its packing, or be a source of virus transmission.

In a recently published article on CNN Lifestyle, the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF) said it looked at the evidence that the virus may be carried on food or its pack and the study found little evidence that a person can get infected with COVID-19 through food or its packaging.

The study supports the earlier report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that there is no real risk of getting the virus that causes COVID-19 from food or food packaging.

"To date, there has not been any evidence that food, food packaging or food handling is a source or important transmission route for SARS-CoV-2 resulting in COVID-19," the organization said.

"There are no foods that should be considered a risk or warrant consideration as a vector for SARS-CoV-2," it added.

The ICMSF also noted that while it is possible that people could eat something contaminated with the virus and become infected, they have never seen it to have happened.

The group said it is still prudent to emphasize good food hygiene practices. The ICMSF added that countries don't need to ask the origin of imported food and then ban them since there is a very little chance that the virus can be transmitted through food. 

"The focus for food businesses should be on protecting food workers, consumers and restaurant patrons from becoming infected by person-to-person SARS-CoV-2 spread," the group said in a statement.

Instead of focusing on food contamination or possible virus transmission through food, food companies should focus on providing their employees with personal protective equipment and conduct testing to prevent the virus' spread and boost confidence about coming back to work.