PepsiCo China disclosed that it closed down a local food facility in Beijing on June 15, after confirmation of a coronavirus case. The beverage giant conducted nucleic acid tests on all personnel at the facility on June 16.
PepsiCo said it had isolated 480 workers on June 20, although they all tested negative for COVID-19, one of its officials, Fan Zhimin, stated regarding the latest developments in the capital's outbreak during a local government briefing.
Pepsico China later announced in a WeChat post that there were no coronavirus cases reported by any of its plants in the mainland. However, a top official from the city's disease control agency, Pang Xinghuo, divulged in the same media briefing that eight people at the Daxing facility had tested positive from the virus.
Lay's, owned by PepsiCo, disclosed in a post on the company's micro-blog that the affected food manufacturing facility produced a tiny volume of its potato chips. The chance of any virus surviving during the processing was substantially low, the company said.
After PepsiCo and the Beijing municipal government disclosed the information on Sunday, Chinese consumers flocked to online platforms to express their worries over the company's products, mostly its drinks and chips. Some have also recalled the most recent time they had bought and consumed PepsiCo products and considered having nucleic acid tests.
Over 220 people have so far been found to have contracted the coronavirus from the new clusters in the capital that have been traced to chopping boards used to handle imported salmon at Beijing's Xinfadi market, which supplies around 70 percent of the city's fresh goods and has been shuttered, with officials on Friday advising consumers to get rid of frozen seafood and bean products they purchased from the market.
Local health officials are targeting those who work in supermarkets, restaurants, and food delivery services for testing, Gao Xiaojun of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, said. Dozens of areas in Beijing have also been sealed off to curb the spread of the disease, and residents have been advised to avoid non-essential travel while schools were ordered closed.
Wuhan-based virologist Yang Zhanqiu believed the novel coronavirus can survive around a week in normal room temperatures or about 20 centigrade. Samples collected from inside and outside the PepsiCo plant were all negative, reports said.
The company initiated massive disinfection of key areas in its plant, including the dressing room, hand-washing area, canteen, toilet, and assembly lines on June 15 and 20.
Meanwhile, the chief epidemiologist of China's Center for Disease Control told reporters Friday that the new coronavirus outbreak is under control, but Beijing could still witness new cases.
