A Review of COVID-19 Survival Potential in Food and Prevention Approaches

CITATION LINKS A R T I C L E I N F O Article Type Review Article Authors Mahsa Alikord, PhD1* Ebrahim Molaee-aghaee, PhD1* Mohammadreza Rostami, PhD1 Mehri Fallah raufi, MD2 How to cite this article Alikord M., Molaee-aghaee E., Rostami M.R., Fallah raufi M. A Review of COVID-19 Survival Potential in Food and Prevention Approaches. Infection Epidemiology and Microbiology. 2020;6(4): 311-326 1Department of Environmental Health, Food Safety Division, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. * Correspondence Address: Department of Environmental Health, Food Safety Division, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. malikord@razi.tums.ac.ir emolaeeaghaee@sina.tums.ac.ir Article History Received: September 05 ,2020 Accepted: November 05 ,2020 Published: November 19 ,2020 Background: The new unknown pandemic introduced in December 2019 in China is now known as SARS-CoV-2 induced COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) disease. Some studies have been published by World Health Organization (WHO), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA); however, there is a little information about food safety and COVID-19. The world has not sufficiently addressed the effects of COVID-19 on food safety. The remarkable point is the hypothesis that this epidemic has passed through a food source eaten by an individual and subsequently turned humans into an intermediate host. In particular, the recent state of information about SARS-CoV-2 is challenging owing to its high transmission and mortality rate in people as a potential source of pathogen and infections. However, there is currently no evidence about COVID-19 spread through food. Materials & Methods: Due to the fact that food is a basic humans need and could be an indirect carrier for the virus; therefore, hygiene protocols must be carefully implemented. Also, some studies have suggested that taking supplements, fermented dairy foods, probiotic products, as well as Vitamins C and D could be helpful. Heat treatment and pasteurization could prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission through food. Conclusion: It is recommended that further studies be performed on the duration of COVs survival at different levels of contact with foods under certain conditions with nanoparticles, nano-packaging, nano-emulsions, and nano-encapsulation to evaluate their size effect. Copyright© 2020, TMU Press. This open-access article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License which permits Share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and Adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) under the Attribution-NonCommercial terms. 10.29252/iem.6.4.311