China requires negative nucleic acid tests for imported meat products

China's State Council announced that all imported meat products are required to have nucleic acid test certificates attached before being put into processing in a new guideline published on Thursday. 

The guideline came out to beef up regulation of imported meat products following recent COVID-19 clustered infection cases in meat factories in some countries. 

It requires meat processing enterprises to reinforce source control on imported goods, improve the inspection and testing of imports and strictly prohibit the processing of meat that does not conform to the provisions on animal quarantine or food safety standards. 

All meat imports should have proof of negative nucleic acid test results before being allowed to enter factories for processing, said the guideline. 

Key areas in meat factories, such as slaughterhouses, meat cutting and packaging workshops, are required to strengthen ventilation and other epidemic prevention measures out of concerns of the risk of viral transmission due to their enclosed low-temperature environments with high densities of workers. 

Once any product sample or worker tests positive for COVID-19, the factory should be immediately shut down, sealed off and disinfected thoroughly, and proceed to conduct further tests for close contacts.

China has been stepping up its regulation of imported goods since coronavirus was reportedly found on a chopping board for imported salmon in Beijing's Xinfadi market, leading to a second epidemic outbreak in the city that had only recently been quelled. 

China on July 10 suspended imports of meat and meat products from 23 foreign companies after the packaging of imported shrimps tested positive for the coronavirus.

On July 3, six samples tested positive from the packages of frozen shrimps from Ecuador to Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, and Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province.