Three samples of ice cream produced by Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company in north China’s Tianjin city have tested positive for coronavirus. The anti-epidemic authorities in Tianjin Municipality are tracing people who may have been in contact with the batches.
All the produced products were sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus, however, there was no indication if anyone had contracted the virus from the ice cream.
The positive samples were discovered after they were sent for testing on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The ingredients used in the ice cream included New Zealand milk powder and dried whey from Ukraine.
Dr Stephen Griffin, a virologist based at the University of Leeds, told a media agency that the development was unlikely to be a cause for "panic".
He said, "It's likely this has come from a person, and without knowing the details, I think this is probably a one-off.”
The firm’s 1,662 employees are under quarantine and underwent nucleic acid testing on Thursday, while the authorities said the firm produced 4,836 boxes of COVID-contaminated ice cream, 2,089 of which had been sealed away in storage. Whereas a total of 935 boxes of the ice cream, out of 2,747 boxes that entered the market, were in Tianjin and only 65 were sold to markets.
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Salespeople at shops selling the product are also being tested for the virus, while samples from ingredients, stored products and the surrounding environment are being collected for further testing.
The Chinese government has implied that the coronavirus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019, came from abroad and has highlighted what it says are discoveries of the coronavirus on imported fish and other food, though foreign scientists are sceptical.