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Review
. 2021 Jan 31;10(2):283.
doi: 10.3390/foods10020283.

A Critical Review of Disinfection Processes to Control SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in the Food Industry

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Review

A Critical Review of Disinfection Processes to Control SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in the Food Industry

Adrián Pedreira et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Industries of the food sector have made a great effort to control SARS-CoV-2 indirect transmission, through objects or surfaces, by updating cleaning and disinfection protocols previously focused on inactivating other pathogens, as well as food spoilage microorganisms. The information, although scarce at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, has started to be sufficiently reliable to avoid over-conservative disinfection procedures. This work reviews the literature to propose a holistic view of the disinfection process where the decision variables, such as type and concentration of active substances, are optimised to guarantee the inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 and other usual pathogens and spoilage microorganisms while minimising possible side-effects on the environment and animal and human health.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; SARS-CoV-2; disinfection trade-offs; food industry; one-health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Commercial products authorized to be employed in the food industry (either requiring post-rise or not) against SARS-CoV-2 according to the EPA List N grouped by their acceptance criteria.

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