If you have meat in your freezer, you may be at risk of COVID

This time there is a new source of COVID risk from an unexpected place. New research shows the coronavirus can survive more than 30 days in frozen meat.

The study, published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, tested different types of meat and exposed them to freezing environments to measure their responses. They also wanted to see if there was a way for people to catch the virus from these sources.

Photo by Daria Shevtsova via Pexels

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For their test, the researchers used surrogate viruses that had spikes similar to those of the corona virus. They tested them on beef, salmon, pork, and chicken. They claimed the study is significant because COVID is known to replicate in the gut, not just the lungs and airways.

“Although you might not keep meat in the fridge for 30 days, you can keep it in the freezer for that long,” said the study’s first author and assistant professor at Campbell University, Emily Bailey. “We even found that the viruses could be cultured afterwards [being frozen for] so long.”

The researchers decided to take on the study after learning that COVID outbreaks occurred in locations in Southeast Asia where there was no community transmission. This led researchers to believe that pre-packaged meats could be the culprits, especially if prepared in areas where COVID was present.

Bailey explains that this research should serve as a starting point for further study and that those who handle food are more careful and aware of this issue.

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“Further efforts are needed to prevent contamination of food and food-processing surfaces, workers’ hands, and food-processing utensils such as knives,” the researchers concluded. “The absence or inadequate disinfection of these foods prior to packaging needs to be addressed.”