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SARS-CoV-2 Packaging and Environmental Monitoring
Clearly, at this critical time, product safety and HACCP are as important as they have ever been, and in the current pandemic, food and beverage companies, retailers, public health authorities and other businesses are seeking solutions to monitor the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in their environments.
Studies have shown that in some conditions SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) can remain viable on common surfaces, such as that used for food packaging, for up to 28 days1. The virus may be transmitted when a healthy person touches contaminated food or environmental contact surfaces (including packaging materials), and then shortly afterwards, touches their eyes, mouth, or nose.
Proper cleaning, surveillance, and the prevention of cross-contamination are critical in the control of foodborne illnesses. The application of sound principles of environmental sanitation, personal hygiene and established food safety practices will reduce the likelihood that harmful pathogens including SARS-CoV-2 will threaten the safety of the food supply, regardless of how the food is sourced.
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Free webinar recording: Impact of new SARS-CoV-2 test method validations in the fight against COVID-19 in the food industry
Originally hosted by Select Science on April 20, 2021.
Listen to Danièle Sohier, senior manager, global scientific affairs – food production at Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Pat Bird, technical consultant at AOAC International, as they discuss the methods available to monitor SARS-CoV-2 in food production environments.
- SARS-CoV-2 detection for environmental monitoring to leverage a risk analysis and an appropriate hygiene intervention strategy
- Aspects of the decision process for selecting a detection workflow
- An overview of the AOAC Emergency Validation Response to support food business operators
- All webinar participants can request a certificate of attendance, including a learning outcomes summary, for continuing education purposes.
Detection of SAR-CoV-2 from food packaging and environmental monitoring
Use/Purpose | Description | Format | Order code |
Surface sampling
| Thermo Scientific™ MicroTest™ Flocked Swab Kits | Pack of 100 swabs | R12542 |
Swabs with synthetic tip and aluminum or plastic shaft (preferably large macrofoam tipped applicator) | Various
| Go to fisherscientific.com | |
Transport medium | Thermo Scientific™ Phosphate Buffered Saline | 24 x 20 mL | BO0971G |
| 100 tablets, each for 100 mL | BR0014G |
Use/Purpose | Description | Format | Order code |
Medium to high throughput automated sample preparation | Thermo Scientific™ KingFisher™ Flex Purification System, with 96 Deep-well Head | Instrument
|
|
| KingFisher™ Deep-Well 96 Plate, V-bottom | 50 x 96-well plates | 95040450 | |
| KingFisher™ Flex 96 Deep-Well Heating Block | 1 block | 24075430 | |
| KingFisher™ 96 tip comb for DW magnets | Case of 100 | 97002534 | |
Low to medium throughout automated sample preparation | Thermo Scientific™ KingFisher™ mL System | Instrument | 5400050C |
| Applied Biosystems™ KingFisher™ mL Food Protection Purification System Tubes & Tips | 240 tests | 15951 | |
| KingFisher™ mL Food Protection Purification System Tube Rack | 1 rack | 15952 | |
Manual sample preparation | Invitrogen™ DynaMag™-2 Magnet | 1 each | |
Nucleic acid extraction reagents for use with automated and manual extraction methods | Applied Biosystems™ PrepSEQ™ Nucleic Acid Extraction Kit for Food and Environmental Testing | 300 preparations | 4428176 |
| 100 preparations | 4480466 |
Use/Purpose | Description | Format | Order code |
Master Mix | Thermo Scientific™ RNA UltraSense™ One-Step Quantitative RT-PCR System | 100 reactions | |
| Total RNA Control (Human) | 100 µL | 4307281 | |
| Use/Purpose-TaqMan® PCR Assay | TaqMan 2019nCoV Assay Kit v 1: | A47532 | |
| 2019-nCoV (ORF1ab Assay, FAM dye, 20X | 75 µL | ||
| 2019-nCoV (S protein) Assay, FAM dye, 20X | 75 µL | ||
| 2019-nCoV (N protein) Assay, FAM dye, 20X | 75 µL | ||
| RNase P Assay, VIC dye, 20X | 250 µL | ||
| Synthetic positive control for assay performance verification | TaqMan® 2019-nCoV Control Kit v1 2019nCoV DNA Control (covering Gene Orf-1ab, Gene S protein and Gene N protein, RNase P) | 50 µL (concentration 1 x 104 copies /µL) | A47533 |
Real-Time PCR and data analysis | Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ 5 Food Safety Real-Time PCR System (96-well, 0.1mL Block) Includes: Applied Biosystems™ QuantStudio™ Design and Analysis Software v1.5.1 or later and Thermo Scientific™ RapidFinder™ Analysis Software v.1.0 or later | System with laptop computer | |
Applied Biosystems™ 7500 Fast Food Safety Real-Time PCR System Includes: Applied Biosystems™ 7500 Fast Instrument, RapidFinder™ Express v2.0 and SDS 1.4 or later software | System with laptop computer |
The QuantStudio 5 and 7500 Food Safety Fast Real-Time PCR Systems recommended for use in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 when testing samples from food, packaging and the environment are also suitable for running tests for a broad range of other targets important to food safety and environmental testing. Detect foodborne pathogens using the Thermo Scientific™ SureTect™ Food Pathogen Detection System and benefit from simple, streamlined workflows and increased accuracy to confidently target Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli O157 and other STEC, Campylobacter, Cronobacter, Vibrio and Staphylococcus aureus.
Users will also have the capability to run other real-time PCR tests, including those in our portfolio for GMOs, animal species, Legionella and bio-threat organisms.
We know you rely on us as an essential partner to support your work now more than ever. Please visit our COVID-19 customer portal for more resources to support you.
Useful links
- Food and Drug Administration: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-during-emergencies/food-safety-and-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19
- World Health Organization (WHO): https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1
- European Food Safety Authority: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): http://www.fao.org/2019-ncov/en/
References
1. Riddell, S., Goldie, S., Hill, A. et al. The effect of temperature on persistence of SARS-CoV-2 on common surfaces. Virol J 17, 145 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12985-020-01418-7