The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will host a stakeholder call with the pet food and other animal feed industries on Tuesday, March 31 at 3:00 p.m. EDT to discuss animal food safety and pet food supply questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Registration for the animal food stakeholder call is not necessary.
Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Time: 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT (please call in by 2:55 p.m.)
Call-in information: 888-769-9725, passcode: 5757951
FDA will provide an overview of current activities, respond to identified stakeholder concerns, and highlight FDA resources in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Remarks will be provided by leadership in FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, including Dr. Steven M. Solomon and Tim Schell, PhD, and FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs.
If you have questions about the stakeholder call, please reach out to CVM at [email protected].
Previous briefing to human food industry
In a previous briefing to the human food industry, Frank Yiannas, FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response said, “There is no evidence of food or food packaging being associated with transmission of Covid-19… The virus that causes Covid-19 is one that causes respiratory illness and it is not known to be transmitted by exposure to food.
“It's much more likely that an infected person will spread the virus through person-to-person transmission rather than through contaminated food or food packaging.
"We do not anticipate that food products would need to be recalled or withdrawn from market should a person that works in a food facility be confirmed for Covid-19."
“Of course, it might be possible that a person can get Covid-19 by touching a frequently contracted surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or eyes.
“But this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads. For these reasons, we do not -- and let me emphasize, we do not -- anticipate that food products would need to be recalled or withdrawn from market should a person that works in a food facility be confirmed for Covid-19.
“Furthermore, there is no nationwide shortages of food. I suspect I'd have the same experience that you've had visiting your local grocery store and seeing some shelf empty of certain items. But this is temporary until the stores can restock and replenish.
“Food production and food manufacturing are widely dispersed through the U.S. and there are currently no widespread disruptions reported in the food supply chain.”
View our continuing coverage of the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.
