China Suspends Frozen Fish Imports From Indian Firm After Detecting Coronavirus In Samples
China has said that it has suspended imports from an Indian fish firm after coronavirus was found from three of its samples. The Chinese government has called for a temporary ban on fish import from Basu International, a seafood export company based in Kolkata.?
COVID on frozen cuttlefish
China¡¯s custom office said it will suspend fish imports from India¡¯s Basu International for a week.The General Administration of Customs added that imports will resume automatically after one week.?The samples used to detect novel coronavirus were taken from the outer packaging of frozen cuttlefish, Reuters reported.?
Brazil?
On Friday, the Chinese city of Wuhan said it had also detected the novel coronavirus on the packaging of a batch of Brazilian beef, as it ramped up testing of frozen foods this week as part of a nationwide campaign.?The Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement on its website it had found three positive samples on the outer packaging of frozen, boneless beef from Brazil.
Argentina
Chinese authorities also found the coronavirus on the packaging of Argentinian beef this week, and another imported beef sample was found to be positive in Shandong, that province said on Friday.
China is the world's top beef buyer and Brazil and Argentina its largest suppliers.??
Indonesia
This week China also suspended imports from an Indonesian firm PT Anugrah Laut Indonesia for a week after customs detected coronavirus in a sample of frozen fish products supplied by the firm.Trade with the Indonesian firm will also resume automatically as soon as the seven-day suspension is completed.?
China tightens rules
Owing to virus concerns, Chinese authorities published plans to tighten supervision of all imported cold chain products, after confirming COVID-19 infection linked to packages of foreign food.?
According to the new guidelines, disinfection will need to be carried out before loading or transporting imported cold chain products. Details of all disinfection work ¡ª including the date, location, and product used ¡ª must be recorded and kept for at least two years.??
In late October, Beijing authorities announced that companies transporting or storing imported frozen food would be required to upload detailed information about the products through a government-supervised online platform.
