There is no reason to be concerned about the transmission of the coronavirus from salmon or other seafood, the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) said Monday following news over the weekend of the discovery of COVID-19 on the chopping board of a seller of imported salmon at Beijing's main wholesale seafood market.

The market is a key supplier to several of the city's large retailers and caused many of them to remove imported salmon from their shelves across Beijing.

Carrefour and Wumart were among the supermarkets to stop selling the product, according to an article in Saturday's Global Times, despite health experts saying COVID-19 cannot be transmitted from fish to humans, a point NFI President John Connelly stressed in a statement.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has clearly stated that “food or food packaging” have not been associated with transmission of COVID-19 and that there is “no reason to be concerned” about transmission of the virus from food, he said.

"Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, World Health Organization, and the European Food Safety Agency all emphasize this finding. Seafood, including salmon, continue to be among the healthiest foods consumers can choose. Reports to the contrary are not science-based."

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