Thursday, 23 July 2020
What is the magnitude of the risk if any, of contracting COVID-19 through consumption of bivalve molluscs produced in Ireland?
Covid-19 is primarily a respiratory illness, but the virus causing the illness (SARS-CoV-2) may also be present in the faeces of infected people and therefore, wastewater. A qualitative assessment was undertaken during May and June 2020 in order to address this question:
‘What is the magnitude of the risk if any, of contracting COVID-19 through consumption of bivalve molluscs produced in Ireland?’
The assessment found that the probability of consumption of live bivalve molluscs containing viable SARS-CoV-2 virus accumulated from their aquatic environment, is considered very low and is negligible if bivalve molluscs are cooked at time/temperature combinations sufficient to inactivate SARS-CoV-2.
However, the uncertainty in this conclusion is high since there is a lack of data on the persistence of SARS-CoV-2.
