CFS says Covid patient likely infected packaging

The government’s Centre for Food Safety on Wednesday said a Covid patient, or someone else at her home, had likely infected a pre-frozen packet of Thai crocodile spare ribs, rather than the patient having caught the disease from the packaging itself.

On Tuesday, health authorities said a sample of the ribs in the girl’s freezer had tested positive.

The centre came to the conclusion after testing over a hundred crocodile products from retail outlets and warehouses.

All the tests have come back negative, and the vendor of the ribs has now been given the go-ahead to resume sales.

The 17-year-old girl, who had a mutant form of the coronavirus, became infected earlier this month, breaking Hong Kong’s streak of more than 40 days without an untraceable case.

She had reportedly admitted to sneezing on the package.

The girl’s mother and sister also contracted the same Covid variant.

The Centre for Food Safety is part of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.