Decontamination of the delivery system and nutrition intervention during COVID-19

The future war conditions are obvious about non-weaponized materials, traditionally referred to as hazardous materials (HAZMAT) and may include contaminated food, livestock, bush meat, and crops. An accidental COVID-19 incident is an event caused by human greed or natural or technological reasons, such as accidental releases, or outbreaks. These accidental outbreaks are usually referred to as HAZMAT accidents. Global outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, SARS, or pandemic influenza are examples of naturally occurring biological disasters leading to the serious detrimental effect on present living being in the area of the incident. At times of social-distancing, the food becomes a matter of survival and strength against fighting these situations along with suitable life support aids to overcome and delay the harmful effects of COVID-19.

Indirect contamination is by consuming the contaminated foods whereas surface contamination by infectious biological agents results in direct contamination introduced during production, storage cum procurement facility, in-transit of products, food service facility unit, regardless of agent source, the effect is same, consumers will become live viral vectors. At times of lockdown when hands are held tight, preferably a sterilizable and self-decontamination delivery system can be a user-friendly approach. Packaging material surface of processed and sealed foods apart from paper, textiles, and canvas materials are non-life supportive for microorganisms, hence it is self-decontaminating. Rapid and essentially applied countermeasure sanitation methods for impermeable canned and bottled containers can be resolved by immersing in boiling soap water for 15 min/ 5% Sodium carbonate solution, 2% acetic acid solution, spraying with decontaminating solution-2 (DS2) for 30 min followed by rinsing and aeration, calcium hypochlorite (HTH) solution, super tropical bleach (STB) solution. In case of unprocessed fruits and vegetables trimming off exposed portion, washing in 5% brine solution/ 2% peracetic solution for 15 min followed by rinsing and peeling off their skin can be rewarding in such pandemic situations. At present millet-based extruded products/porridge and other flowable meal in liquid or semisolid form having a tubing mounted over an orifice at one end opens in the vicinity to the mouth, delivered with a gentle press would be the prime and hassle-free choice for our doctors, nurses, task forces, migrant workers, etc.

Inflammatory responses upon exposure to COVID-19 promote excessive production of Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme-inducing hypoxia, and excessive production of prostaglandins and thromboxane which persist up to weeks in a wide range of organs and tissues. The pathological symptoms of breath shortness, muscle fatigue, fever, and dry cough together with inhibition of COX-2 can be achieved effectively with the intake of natural antioxidants such as curcumin, cardamonin, quercetin, lycopene, garlic, Beta-carotenes, vitamin C all these acts as pro-oxidant against Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) imparting protective effects against oxidative stress. During the COVID-19 outbreak, Chinese people consumed garlic soup as it’s a rich source of Allicin (diallyl thiosulphinate) as well as raw sliced garlic in 15%-20% ethanol aged for 20 months as it has S-allyl cysteine (SAC) a powerful antioxidant which is absent in raw garlic. Studies have explored guava leaf extracts and microalgae as modern phytomedicine responsible for broad-spectrum anti-inflammatory properties. Intake of salt fortified with potassium iodide competes with oxidative stress. Sulfur-containing cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, and kale do protect from COVID-19 exposure. Adequate basic nutrition and enough antioxidants, phytochemicals, carotenoids, dietary fibers are highly effective in combating the pandemic stress with delayed tissue damage due to exposure in COVID-19 environment.

Table 1. Applied countermeasure related to food sanitation

Do’s	Don’ts
Consume makhana, milk, millet products in sealed packages to keep the body hydrated	Avoid open source of water such as wells/ponds
Consume only covered food products, canned, bottled and pouch packed foods	Avoid drinking fresh milk, eating fruits and vegetables grown in the affected area
Trim off exposed unprocessed fresh produce surface	Avoid consumption of contaminated crops, vegetables, water, etc.
Decontaminate food storage surface thoroughly prior to opening	Avoid consumption of flours stored in jute bags

By Abhishek Gaurav presently is a Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Food Process Engineering at National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Odisha, India