John Myers
If fresh vegetables have corona viruses, is it better to heat them or is freezing enough to kill them?
Viruses are killed by heat, only to a limited extent by cold. So freezing is not a surefire way to destroy viruses. This was also evident in 2013, when frozen berries were the vectors of norovirus. More than 10,000 people contracted diarrhea and vomit from eating the fruit, which had previously no longer been heated.
However, according to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, it is extremely unlikely that food represents a significant transmission path for the novel coronavirus. One is guided by the empirical values of the previously known types of corona virus as well as some tests that have already been carried out.
The main source of transmission is droplet infection, i.e. direct coughing or sneezing on people. The viruses cannot live on food for very long, and the number of viruses on it is usually too small to trigger an infection. For this, the unlikely event would have to occur that a food is coughed on or eaten and the next person eats it unwashed after a short time.
In any case, the general hygiene rules of everyday life should be followed as a preventative measure when handling food. Above all, this includes washing hands before and during preparation, but also after unpacking packaged food, for example.
