December 10, 2020
Food businesses and consumers struggling with impacts of COVID-19 in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Nepal and Senegal now have access to customized resources, thanks to a mentorship project led by the Institute for Food Safety at Cornell University (IFS@CU)
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“The food systems in our target countries are fragile and highly susceptible to ramifications from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Martin Wiedmann, Ph.D. ’97, the Gellert Family Professor in Food Safety in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). “It’s essential that we support infrastructure and provide guidance for managing this unprecedented challenge to food security.”
There is no evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted through food or food packaging, but the food industry must implement measures to manage the risks associated with COVID-19 within its workforce. Reducing person-to-person transmission across the food system, from farming to harvest and processing, can prevent shutdowns of processing facilities, reduce disruptions in the supply chain and help stabilize the food supply.