It was not strange, during the quarantine lived in 2020, to see videos on social networks of people who cleaned the purchase as soon as they got home to, thus, make sure that lThe food did not have the Covid-19. Now, a study carried out by the University of Southampton (United Kingdom) for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has shown that the virus, depending on which food, can be maintained more or less over time.
According to the study itself, food and packaging have been artificially inoculated, so times may vary in real cases -since there is less amount of viral load-.
“In the early stages of the pandemic, we didn’t know much about how the coronavirus would survive on packaging and food itself, so our assessment started from a worst-case scenario,” said Anthony Wilson, head of microbiological risk research at the FSA.
Even so, Wilson stressed that the study has confirmed the “assumptions that were made in the early stages”: “The probability of contracting Covid-19 through food is very low.”
How long does the covid virus survive in food?
In general, after 24 hours the Covid-19 will have disappeared in most cases. Although in some foods this can be kept for up to a week.
– Fruits and vegetables. The study indicates that rough and irregular surfaces tend to give much higher times than smooth ones. In this way, broccoli and raspberries keep the virus for a week; while in apples it lasts a few hours.
– Cakes, breads… Regarding baked goods, Covid-19 was barely detectable, especially in those with a layer of beaten egg. This, in theory, is due to the anti-viral effect of arachidonic acid, present in this food.
– Meats and cheeses. According to the study, the virus lasts for a week in this type of food, probably due to its high protein content.
Regarding the packaging of the products, the most ‘healthy’ are the aluminum cans where the coronavirus remains for only a few hours. Faced with this case, there are cardboard and plastic, where it remains for several days and even a week.