U of G food microbiologist Prof. Jeffrey Farber, Department of Food Science, spoke to the Financial Post about whether there should be concerns about contracting COVID-19 from meat from processing plants where outbreaks have occurred.

Farber explained that although there is always a “theoretical possibility” of infection, the risk that the virus could survive on meat or its packaging for very long is “extremely low” because the virus begins to degrade after it leaves a human host.

“The likelihood of the virus being on packaging is already in low numbers when it leaves the plant and even lower numbers when it reaches your kitchen,” he said.

Farber is the director of the Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety.

He recently created a video offering tips for safe grocery shopping.