AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO ADDRESS COVID-19 CONCERNS IN FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The world is facing a crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the closure of many businesses. Food supply chain personnel from farm to retail levels do not have this opportunity to work from home. Meanwhile, keeping all workers in the food supply chains healthy and safe is challenging for stakeholders. Our knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 survival on foods, and food contact surfaces, and in response to different disinfection methods, is very limited. In addition, the fate of virus and how it can be transferred through the food supply chain has not been addressed yet. Thus, these significant limitations highlighted the unmet needs to develop systematic research approaches, and training materials for industry. The specific aims of this proposed research are: (a) Assess survival of SARS-CoV-2 on different foods, food contact surfaces, and packaging materials under different conditions; (b) Determine the efficacy of different conventionally used and novel sanitizers against SARS-CoV-2 on food and food contact surfaces; (c) Measure the transfer rate from hands to foods and food contact surfaces to best mimic the fate of virus; (d) Develop education materials for food supply chain stakeholders, including farmers, food production workers, food retailers and consumers. Based on this systematic approach, adoptable strategies will be developed across the food and agriculture industry to rapidly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.