USDA is funding a $1 million project to research how COVID-19 might be transmitted in the nation’s food supply, studying from the cattle on the farm to packages inside a consumer’s refrigerator.
The project is set to begin in October and last for two years, and is led by Texas A&M University. The goal is to help reduce the risk of exposure for consumers and people who work in the meat industry.
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has awarded $13 million to projects studying the impact of COVID-19 on livestock and the food sector. S
o far, there isn’t any evidence that the virus spreads through food or packaging, but “that really doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t study this, just to make sure that we understand how the virus behaves throughout the distribution system,” former NIFA Director J. Scott Angle said on a USDA radio program in May.
