BEIJING (Reuters) – China customs said on Friday that it will suspend imports from companies for a week if frozen food products test positive for coronavirus for the first or second time.
If the frozen products test positive for coronavirus for a third time or more, imports from the producer will be suspended for four weeks, China’s General Administration of Customs said in a statement on its website.
Beijing has already tightened checks on imported frozen food cargoes and banned imports from some foreign meat processing plants, as the coronavirus pandemic hit the global food sector.
The trade moves came after Chinese authorities found heavy traces of the novel coronavirus in the meat and seafood sections of Xinfadi, a large wholesale food market in Beijing, after an outbreak there in June.
Imports from the companies at issue would resume automatically after the suspension ends, according to the customs statement, issued and effective on Friday.
(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Alex Richardson)
