states “We found that viable virus could be detected in aerosols up to 3 hours post aerosolization, up to 4 hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel.”
The theoretical risk comes from Huel’s cardboard packaging and next day delivery, and the individual pouches/shakers/scoops (plastic).
What steps is Huel (the company) taking to lower the risk of coronavirus infection among its employees (both those who handle Huel, and those who handle e.g. support calls) and customers?
Is every employee’s temperature taken before starting work? Is everyone wearing respirators/face masks, gloves and other PPE? Have disinfectants been made available to all staff and is all staff required to take additional hygiene measures?
You’re asking private companies to share the BCP’s? Food manufacturing and packing is always done under very strict and sterile conditions regardless of any current health situations or ongoing droplet transmissible risks such as influenza and common corona virus strains so in that respect, you are no more at risk now as you are at any other time of the year.
Huel do not directly manufacture or distribute their products – their fulfilment centres will have their own SOP’s and BCP’s in place and will also have to comply with strict hygiene standards when it comes to handling food.
Kuehne + Nagel who handle Huel’s fulfilment have issued an information page on their website regarding this.
The very slight risk that you may get surface contamination on a pack is more likely to come from delivery agents / warehouses who do not have to specifically adhere to food hygiene standards but this is still most likely much less of a risk than buying something off the shelf in the supermarket which may have been exposed to contamination by customers without any monitoring.
You can also take your own precautionary measures when handling packs such as wiping them down with Mikrozid (or even Dettol) wipes and practising your own hand hygiene routines.
I eat Huel for 100% of my calories, so fortunately Huel is the only business I interact with.
That’s the official tagline, but we all know humans often deviate from best practices. I’m simply asking if employees have been reminded of these best practices, stressing that it is really important this time compared to business as usual - that might make people start doing them for once.
it’s no more important now than it is at any other time in food manufacturing. Given the levels of hysteria around Covid - I’m sure everyone is very well aware.
This is the key point here. If we had to change our fulfilment methods due to this situation, it would be concerning. The staff not only have had all these points reiterated, they are aware themselves. You only have to walk around the floor to see how vigilant people are. The warehouse we’re in handles nationwide food deliveries, so I am confident of the standards in place and that nothing would come from our (or the warehouses) team. Removing any ethical ideas and looking purely at business, if we’re spreading any disease, it is most definitely spreading to the rest of the staff who would have to go off sick. If they’re off sick and we can’t pick orders.
That is not our concern, health is of the utmost priority, but it helps reiterate how much we as a business would not want to be lax in any area.
You don’t use toothpaste, soap, washing powder, any other cleaning products? You don’t buy tea, coffee, fruit juice, squash, any other drinks?
You literally only purchase Huel and no other products at all?
All of those are packaged and shipped either to stores or directly to you. In stores they are transferred from stockroom to shelf.
This is a whole new level of paranoia and quite disproportionate to potential risk.
I just wonder, surely you must buy something, because, to get huel you’ll need income and to bulk buy you’ll need some form of savings and it seems almost impossible to work and earn the exact amount you would need, what does the excess money go on?
Put it this way – due to its prolonged incubation period, at any point in time in the UK, there are literally thousands of people infected with Tuberculosis – the deadliest contagious respiratory illness in the world. More alarmingly still, a high percentage of the deaths that occur from these (more than 20%) cases go undetected or diagnosed until post mortem.
Similarly, anywhere between 1.3 and 6 million people are infected with influenza at any point during the year. Between these two illnesses – they account for around 200,000 deaths globally per month.
This is ‘business as usual’ in the UK.
If you are fine with your food being processed, manufactured and delivered under these circumstances, then you have no cause or reason to be any more concerned now.
As I mentioned before – you also have the option to take extra steps yourself to sanitize packaging that you receive. Just remember that there is a big difference between cleaning, disinfecting and sanitizing.
Normal retail brand disinfection sprays and wipes are ok but have a much slower microbiological efficacy than surgical grade options - what can require 10 minutes with a retail brand product can be bettered in less than a minute by products such as Mikrozid wipes.
You can buy these online relatively cheaply – especially the jumbo refill packs. They also have an alcohol free version, however this is not a 100% effective tuberculocidal level solution.
Very level and helpful response. You sir should be celebrated. It’s easy to forget we are all different, and deep down we may likely all have reactions/phobias to something.
Your initiial post is more like a paranoid ill informed interrogation. Do a bit of research on how long the virus last on various surfaces of your home and items within it to determine your risk level. Like on your loo roll, cleaning products, post slid through your door.
Managing the risk of Corona should be no different to how an employee would manage if they had other viral infections (such as flu). The self isolation policy is to protect the vulnerable. The hygiene procedures are what people should be doing as part of good hygiene practice.
