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COVID-19 not a food safety issue

The livestock sector maintains there’s no evidence COVID-19 can be transmitted through food.

Minnesota Pork CEO David Preisler says this novel coronavirus is not a food-borne issue.

“It really has not come to the forefront that it could be a problem, and we want to make sure that’s still the case. Unfortunately, you end up with rumors out there sometimes, but it is not a food-borne virus and we want to make sure that people completely understand that.”

He tells Brownfield there might be some confusion because in the family of coronaviruses, some have affected animals.

“What’s new is that this is a new strain, and a strain that the world had never seen before late last fall. But coronaviruses have been around in people and in animals for a long time.”

Last week, U.S. Ag Secretary Perdue told members of the House Agriculture Committee COVID-19 is absolutely not transmissible through food.