Food safety lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new era of food safety. To date, there is no evidence to suggest that consuming food is associated with COVID-19. Nevertheless, COVID-19's impact on food safety and security has been grave. The world is currently experiencing several supply chain issues as a direct result of extensive lockdowns and impacts on essential workers' safety. However, disruption in the food supply, while catastrophic in nature, has created opportunities for the advancement of medical science, data processing, security monitoring, foodborne pathogen detection, and food safety technology. This article will discuss the key components for food safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion will draw from lessons learned early in the outbreak and will analyze the etiology of the disease through a food safety perspective. From there, we will discuss personal protective equipment, detection of SARS-CoV-2, useful surrogates to study SARS-CoV-2, and the expanding field of data science, from the food safety point of view. In the future, scientists can apply the knowledge to the containment of COVID-19 and eventually to future pandemics.

FIGURE 1

Impact of COVID‐19 on food safety and security of the food supply chain. Viral icons represent the aggregate accumulation of viral particles in discreet links in the supply chain. The red arrows indicate parts of the food supply chain experience food loss and waste, which ultimately impact food and economic security

FIGURE 2

Structural similarity (tail‐less) and the difference between bacteriophages and animal (and human) viruses. Two types of tail‐less viruses that can infect animal or human: enveloped and nonenveloped viruses. Different morphologies of bacteriophages belong to families Myoviridae, Siphoviridae, Podoviridae, Microviridae (such as phiX174 phage), and Leviviridae (such as MS2 phage)

FIGURE 3

The general principle and workflow of nucleic acid‐based detection approach for SARS‐COV‐2. (1) Swabbing is the most common technique to collect samples from suspected areas, that is, nasopharyngeal area, and inanimate surfaces. Resuspended buffer containing SARS‐COV‐2 is centrifuged for concentration and purification prior to extraction. (2) RNA is extracted using spin columns, which are, then (3) converted to cDNA and amplification using RT‐PCR for analysis and quantification

FIGURE 4

CRISPR–Cas12‐based lateral flow assay for detecting SARS‐CoV‐2. Nasopharyngeal swab samples are used to extract viral RNA, which are then utilized into SARS‐CoV‐2 DNA Endonuclease‐Targeted CRISPR Trans Reporter (DETECTR) and lateral flow strip assay. Extracted RNA undergoes RT‐LAMP and Cas12 detection of predefined coronavirus sequences. A reporter molecule is then cleaved to confirm the detection of the virus. The DETECTR assay can be run in approximately 30–40 min and visualized on a lateral flow strip. The Cas12 fluorescent signal is detectable in <1 min, while the visual signal by lateral flow is within 5 min (Broughton et al., 2020)