USDA, FDA Issue Joint Statement on Transmissibility of COVID-19 on Food Packaging

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued a joint statement stating that “there is no credible evidence of food or food packaging associated with or as a likely source of viral transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus causing COVID-19.” The statement was issued one week after the World Health Organization reportedly stated that the virus could be transmitted on frozen food packaging.

“The USDA and the FDA are sharing this update based upon the best available information from scientific bodies across the globe, including a continued international consensus that the risk is exceedingly low for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans via food and food packaging. For example, a recent opinion from the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF), stated: ‘Despite the billions of meals and food packages handled since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 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.’ Additional literature reviews and analyses from other countries agree.”