The State Administration for Market Regulation in China stopped testing and disinfecting chilled and frozen foods for COVID-19 after two years of the practice that added substantial costs to imports.
Reuters confirmed on Jan. 8 goods will no longer be required to enter centralized warehouses for disinfection and testing before they reach the domestic market.
“The reported ending of COVID testing and disinfection of imported meat at ports and at in-market distribution points will be an encouraging step toward the resumption of normalized trade,” said Joel Haggard, senior vice president of the Asia Pacific Region at the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
China started testing imported foods in 2020 after an outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in a wholesale market, leading authorities to believe they contracted the virus from imported foods.
