The global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic dictates that anti-contagion strategies should become matters of essential routine in everyday life. Fomite transference is one of the routes of transmission that has been considered for this virus. However, the risks associated with contaminated surfaces of food packaging kept in refrigerators have not yet been adequately assessed. In this study, a surrogate virus, Alphacoronavirus 1, was used to investigate the persistence of coronavirus dried on a plastic carrier at 4 °C. Techniques of wet wiping, with or without disinfectant saturation, were employed to evaluate their effectiveness in the elimination of the virus. If not wiped, the loss of infectivity of the virus on plastic surfaces was, on average, 0.93 log10 (i.e. 83%) per day of storage at 4 °C. Wiping with water-saturated material reduced the initial virus titre on the plastic carrier by 2.4 log10 (99.6%); the same results were achieved through wiping with bactericidal wipes containing ethanol. Wipes saturated with a combination of disinfectant agents (didecyl-dimethyl-ammonium chloride, hydrogen peroxide) decreased the virus titre still more efficiently, by 3.8 log10 (99.98%) and also significantly prevented further transfer of the virus to a secondary surface through wiping. Thus SARS-CoV-2 transmission potential via contaminated plastic packaging and food may be efficiently eliminated by wet-wiping, especially when wipes saturated with specific disinfectants are used.

• Keywords
• Alphacoronavirus 1, Covid-19, Food safety, Refrigerated food, Surface contamination, Virus survival,
• MeSH
• Anti-Bacterial Agents MeSH
• Betacoronavirus MeSH
• Food Safety * MeSH
• Refrigeration * MeSH
• Coronavirus MeSH
• COVID-19 MeSH
• Disinfection methods   MeSH
• Disinfectants MeSH
• Ethanol MeSH
• Fomites virology   MeSH
• Coronavirus Infections epidemiology   prevention & control   virology   MeSH
• Quaternary Ammonium Compounds MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Food Packaging * MeSH
• Pandemics prevention & control   MeSH
• Hydrogen Peroxide MeSH
• Plastics * MeSH
• SARS-CoV-2 MeSH
• Food Storage methods   MeSH
• Pneumonia, Viral epidemiology   prevention & control   virology   MeSH
• Water MeSH
• Check Tag
• Humans MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Anti-Bacterial Agents MeSH
• Disinfectants MeSH
• didecyldimethylammonium MeSH Browser
• Ethanol MeSH
• Quaternary Ammonium Compounds MeSH
• Hydrogen Peroxide MeSH
• Plastics * MeSH
• Water MeSH