EDMONTON -- Like many holiday traditions, the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the etiquette surrounding sharing homemade food and baked goods this year.
A box of homemade cookies, once a thoughtful and low-cost alternative to gift giving, has become a bit of a paradox amid the second wave of the pandemic, leaving many asking whether it鈥檚 still safe to accept treats from someone outside of your immediate family or cohort.
Despite evidence that the virus that causes COVID-19 isn鈥檛 easily spread through food, Ebrahim Noroozi, food scientist and occupational health and safety specialist at McGill University, suggests you may want to skip it.
鈥淔ood is not the medium for transporting COVID. It鈥檚 very, very rare that you could say COVID transferred to food,鈥 Noroozi told CTVNews.ca by phone Saturday.
鈥淲hen it鈥檚 a food processing establishment or restaurant, they鈥檙e following government regulations regarding the public health mandates for manufacturing, catering, serving and selling food.鈥
But when it comes to baking, packaging, and delivering food yourself, Noroozi says you must first consider a few things.
鈥淟et me put it this way, if you want to send something to somebody I think the first thing is to ask them if they would like to have [the gift],鈥 he said. 鈥淚f they do accept, I think you鈥檙e accepting the responsibility to deliver them in sanitary condition.鈥
Noroozi notes that research has shown no evidence of COVID-19 being transmitted through the food chain, particularly on meat and chicken in processing plants. But public health officials have warned that coronavirus strains are capable of living at low and freezing temperatures and on food packaging.
In other words, it鈥檚 more the packaging and delivering of said holiday treats that you have to be careful about.
鈥淚f people really want to accept such a thing then you can put your cookies in a clean, sanitized container left outside of the home to following social distancing guidelines鈥 he said.
鈥淏ut those who really want to fully avoid every risk shouldn鈥檛 accept homemade treats.鈥
Good handwashing and sanitization should be practiced when handling any food items and their packaging.鈥
