Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022;46(1):245.
doi: 10.1186/s42269-022-00935-5. Epub 2022 Sep 16.

The propensity of fomite spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus through produce supply chain

Akinbode A Adedeji  1 , Paul Priyesh Vijayakumar  2
Affiliations
Review

The propensity of fomite spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus through produce supply chain

Akinbode A Adedeji et al. Bull Natl Res Cent. 2022.

Abstract

Background: The global community has battled the spread of SAR-CoV-2 for almost 2 years, and the projection is that the virus may be recurrent like the seasonal flu. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic disrupted activities within the food supply chain that cost billions of dollars globally. This has heightened concerns about fomite spread of the virus through surfaces. There is an urgent need to understand the risk portends by this virus along the produce supply chain with conditions (low temperature and high relative humidity) conducive to extended survival of the virus.

Main body: Pre-dating SARS-CoV-2 are other types of coronaviruses that had lower infection and mortality rates. There are some similarities between the former and the new coronavirus, especially with regards to transmission modes and their survivability on surfaces. There is evidence of other coronaviruses' survival on surfaces for weeks. Currently, there are limited evidence-based studies to enlighten us on how the virus is transmitted within the produce supply chain. A few studies claim that the virus could spread through the cold supply chains. However, these are not sufficient to make a conclusive inference about the deadly SARS-CoV-2.

Conclusions: This paper provides a succinct review of the literature on current understanding of the transmission, survivability, and risk SARS-CoV-2 portend to humans within the produce supply chain and calls for more evidence-based research to allay or alert us of the potential risk of fomite transmission of SARS-CoV-2. The paper also highlights examples of conventional and novel non-thermal inactivation and sanitation methods applicable to this type of virus.

Keywords: Coronavirus; Fomite transmission; Produce; SARS-CoV-2; Supply chain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
3D model of SARS-CoV-2 virion and a schematic showing its structural proteins and genome. Image parts modified from CDC Public Health Image Library (Eckert and Higgins ; Chin et al. ; Kakodkar et al. 2020)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Typical grocery settings for customers. Source of images: Left-(Waldbieser 2019) and Right-(Fung and Haddon 2019)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Tomato processing plant (left) (Linkhorn 2016) and lettuce picking farm (right) (Verite 2020)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aboubakr HA, Sharafeldin TA, Goyal SM. Stability of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses in the environment and on common touch surfaces and the influence of climatic conditions: A review. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2021;68(2):296–312. doi: 10.1111/tbed.13707. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aday S, Aday MS. Impact of COVID-19 on the food supply chain. Food Qual Saf. 2020;4(4):167–180. doi: 10.1093/fqsafe/fyaa024. - DOI
    1. Allen H, Tessier E, Turner C, Anderson C, Blomquist P, Simons D, Lamagni T (2022) Comparative transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) and Delta (B.1.617.2) variants and the impact of vaccination: national cohort study, England. medRxiv, 10.1101/2022.02.15.22271001 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andries K, Pensaert M, Callebaut P. Pathogenicity of hemagglutinating encephalomyelitis (vomiting and wasting disease) virus of pigs, using different routes of inoculation. Zentralbl Veterinarmed B. 1978;25(6):461–468. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0450.1978.tb00754.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anelich LECM, Lues R, Farber JM, Parreira VR. SARS-CoV-2 and risk to food safety. Front Nutr. 2020 doi: 10.3389/fnut.2020.580551. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources