Wine Dine and Play: February 2020

Can The Coronavirus Spread Through Food

A picture of foodservice workers making dim-sum without wearing gloves during the coronavirus outbreak

Article Written: February 28, 2020

By Sean Overpeck (CFE)

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Take a good look at the picture above. You see several food service workers in an Asian restaurant preparing dim-sum pastries and all of them are wearing face masks to prevent coughing on the food, equipment, or each other. Now the dim-sum will be boiled to a high temperature to kill any virus spores, so this food is hopefully safe. Look closer at their hands as they prepare the dumplings. They are not wearing single-use food safety gloves. Did they wash their hands after using the bathroom, touching an unclean surface, rubbing their eyes? Can coronavirus spread through food, specifically ready to eat foods, or handling plates and cutlery without proper hygiene? Yes.

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Coronavirus Hits China’s Food and Beverage Industry Hard

The Coronavirus is taking more than lives, it is hurting many businesses especially the food and beverage industry

Article Written: February 18, 2020
Updated: February 23, 2020

By Sean Overpeck (CFE)

**A full article and index glossary of restaurants, wines, recipes and travel for

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By Cuisine / By Country

At the time this article was written the latest Covid-19 numbers from mainland China are not promising with additional fatalities outside of China with 80,000+ people infected with over 2000 confirmed cases in over 30 additional countries. The largest cluster of patients outside of China is from the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama, Japan with 640 cases, and in South Korea with over 600. Also, the French Health Minister Olivier Veran said that there is a “credible risk” the novel coronavirus outbreak could turn into a worldwide pandemic even though Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, said the organization is still not classifying the coronavirus outbreak as a "pandemic" because they were not seeing an "efficient community transmission outside of China."

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