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