On February 18, 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a statement in which the acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Janet Woodcock, proclaimed that “there is no credible evidence of food or food packaging associated with or as a likely source of [SARS-CoV-2 virus] transmission.”
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been strongly debated whether contaminated food packaging could contribute to the spread and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (FPF reported). Especially Chinese authorities have been criticized for denying products from import due to detection of SARS-CoV-2 (FPF reported). However, already in April 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) largely dismissed the transmission route via food packaging surfaces as being of serious concern.
More information related to the COVID-19 pandemic and packaging is available on the Food Packaging Forum’s resources page.
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Janet Woodcock (February 18, 2021). “COVID-19 Update: USDA, FDA Underscore Current Epidemiologic and Scientific Information Indicating No Transmission of COVID-19 Through Food or Food Packaging.” FDA
Keller and Heckman LLP (February 26, 2021). “Foods and Food Packaging Unlikely to Spread COVID-19, Says FDA/USDA
