China has come up with a new ice cream that no one wants to try.
During routine government testing, three samples from an ice cream company in Northern China were positive for COVID-19.
Officials now believe that 4,836 boxes of ice may be contaminated – more than half of which had already been put up for sale when the test results came back, Sky News reported Friday.
Only 2,089 boxes of ice could be seized on time, the report said.
The ice cream was produced by the Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company, where 1,662 employees were tested and quarantined on Thursday.
Dr. Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds in the UK, told the point of sale that an infected person had most likely infected the batches.
“Of course any level of contamination is not acceptable and always a cause for concern, but there is a good chance that this is due to a problem with the production plant and may be related to hygiene in the plant,” he said.
Griffin explained that the virus could have survived in the product because of the cold temperature and the fat from the ice.
He also urged the public not to panic about the accident.
“We probably don’t need to panic that every piece of ice will suddenly become infected with the coronavirus,” Griffin added.
Officials said those who may have purchased the ice scream should report their status so the health department can track possible cases.