An illness that originated from Wuhan city of China turned into a Pandemic within months. Lockdowns around the world were not only bad for the economic standing of the countries, but it deteriorated the mental health of the people as well and created chaos and mayhem.
Although lockdowns are lifted now, and a potential vaccine for this new strain of age-old coronaviruses is available, people are still paranoid about catching the virus and are very scared to do anything or touch anything. Similarly, people are wondering if they would heat their delivered food in the microwave, it would kill the virus. Let’s look at how true is this statement.
Will microwaving food kill coronavirus?
Before anything, know that the virus cannot spread through foods. Well, this is not what we are saying, but what the experts at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have to say. Moreover, consumer reports also support this stance.
Your food cannot be contaminated until someone who has the virus sneezes or coughs on it. However, it is theoretically unlikely that you catch the virus as well. Nevertheless, if you are paranoid and still want to know, will microwaving food kill coronavirus; let’s see what experts have to say.
According to a CDC report, microwaving food for up to one minute or five minutes kills bacteria and viruses. However, if this is the same case with Covid 19 or not, to know read further.
An award-winning science journalist and Ph.D. in psychology, Maria Konnikova gives a vague answer. She replies with a yes and a no, both. She believes that heat will kill the virus, but she also recommends using an oven instead of a microwave.
Diving into the past, WHO found, if you heat your food at fifty-six degrees Celsius and for fifteen minutes, it can kill SARS coronavirus at around ten thousand units. To support this stance, a study of 2003 also suggests, if food is exposed to 75 degrees Celsius, approximately 167 degrees Fahrenheit for thirty minutes, it will disinfect the virus.
As per experts report, if you are too scared about the virus being present on your food, go and microwave it for your relief.
Will microwaving packaged food kill Covid 19?
If you are wondering microwaving packaged food will also kill the virus or not, then know there is no proven evidence for it as of yet. According to Sugawara Erisa, an expert on infection prevention from the Tokyo Healthcare University says it is safe to eat food that is warmed in the microwave. It is because microwave heats food through electromagnetic waves by spinning water molecules into the food.
However, as far as packaged food is concerned, she believes that microwaving doesn’t heat the upper surface as much; it is why one cannot tell if the virus disinfects from the packaging after microwaving it. To ensure you disinfect the packaging as well, you can wash it under clean water.
When you are microwaving food, don’t start putting everything into your microwave because some foods must not be microwaved. Here is a list of three main foods that you must not put in a microwave.
Which foods to avoid from microwaving?
Microwaves have eased our lives. You can heat anything almost instantly. Although the reports suggest microwaving food kills viruses and bacteria, you must be mindful of which foods you microwave and which ones to avoid. Here we have gathered a list of the top three foods we use in our regular life, which you must not microwave.
Hard-boiled eggs are at the top of the list. If you microwave a hard-boiled egg, it will burst. The steam inside the egg causes it to explode.
Frozen meat is another item on our list. If you microwave frozen cuts of meat to defrost, then stop doing it. Firstly, heat can cook the edges, but the middle part may remain frozen. Moreover, if your microwave doesn’t rotate food while heating, it can cause an irregular distribution of heat, which will increase bacteria rather than killing them.
Foods in plastic containers. When you microwave foods in a plastic container, the plastic container releases chemicals that go into your food, making it unhealthy to eat for you.
Many other foods must not be microwaved; these were the top three things that we often mistakenly microwave regardless of killing the virus. You must be mindful about heating foods in a microwave because it can damage either your food or your microwave.
