Can the virus be passed on through food?
Experience with SARS and MERS suggest that people are not infected with the virus through food. So, it is unlikely the virus is passed on through food and there is no evidence yet of this happening with the 2019 Coronavirus.
Coronaviruses need a host (animal or human) to grow in and cannot grow in food. Thorough cooking is expected to kill the virus because we know with SARS that a heat treatment of at least 30min at 60ºC is effective.
Coronaviruses are most commonly passed between animals and people and from person to person. The source of the 2019 virus is believed to be animals, but the exact source is not yet known.
The virus is commonly passed on through direct mucus membrane contact by infectious droplets e.g breathing in airborne virus from the sneeze of someone who is infected.
Investigations in China are continuing to identify the source of the outbreak and ways it can be passed on to people.
In the new study, researchers analyzed several dozen previously published papers on human coronaviruses (other than the new coronavirus) to get a better idea of how long they can survive outside of the body. The authors found that these coronaviruses can linger on surfaces for over a week but that some of them don't remain active for as long at temperatures higher than 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius). The authors also found that these coronaviruses can be effectively wiped away by household disinfectants.