Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the role of food hygiene in spreading covid-19.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has carried out a detailed risk assessment which considered the probability of food or food contact materials and surfaces being a source or transmission route for SARS-CoV-2. Their advice is that the overall probability that United Kingdom consumers will receive potentially infectious exposures of SARS-CoV-2 via the consumption of food or the handling of food contact materials or packaging is Very Low (“very rare but cannot be excluded”). Further risk assessments will be carried out as needed to inform FSA policy.

Food businesses should continue to follow good food hygiene standards.

The full qualitative risk assessment has been published on the FSA’s website at the following link:

https://www.food.gov.uk/research/research-projects/qualitative-risk-assessment-on-the-risk-of-food-or-food-contact-materials-as-a-transmission-route-for-sars-cov-2