The USDA is funding a $ 1 million research project to determine how the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be transmitted in the country's beef supply chain.

Reuters reports that the study will track the supply chain from farm to table and will begin in October. The project, led by Texas A&M University, aims to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in consumers and people working in the meat industry.

The grant is part of funding from the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Rural Affairs (NIFA), which recently committed about $13 million to 17 projects examining the impact of COVID-19 on livestock, food safety, food processing and agriculture in the United States, an agency spokesperson said.

While there is no evidence that the virus is spreading through food or food packaging, "that doesn't really mean we shouldn't study it, just to make sure we understand how the virus behaves throughout the supply chain," noted representatives of the USDA.

Researchers will examine the effects of the virus at various stages of meat processing and packaging and determine the virus's ability to survive on meat and packaging material during transport and at retail locations, said Sapna Chitlapilli Dass, assistant professor of meat research at Texas A&M, who leads the project and works with the Department of Agriculture of USA and the University of Pennsylvania.

Source: meatinfo