[nudephil (OP)]

Here's a question sent in by Roger:

If I bring into my home chilled foods and 'devirus' them for 72 hours before putting them in my freezer, what would be an ideal temperature to hold them for 72 hours that would not harm the foods but would allow the virus to die? I have rigged up a cool box with ice packed around the food - is this feasible?

Any thoughts?

[set fair]

For meat or fish or for fruit and vetables where there is moisture present you will not be able to devirus them reliably without cooking them. Well OK, maybe if you kept them af 70 Celcius. I microwave frozen fruit now and as far as hand washing goes I treat anything frozen as potentially contaminated. I'm sure people will think this over the top but I give myself a 50-50 chance of popping my clogs if catch covid-19 and both meat workers (working conditions) and fruit pickers (sleeping conditions and toilet facilities) are amongst the more at risk groups of catching the virus.

[Bored chemist]

Unfortunately, the virus survives better in cold conditions- probably for months at minus 70.

[evan_au]

If I bring into my home chilled foods and 'devirus' them for 72 hours before putting them in my freezer

Most attempts to achieve devirusing before freezing will increase the likelihood of bacterial food poisoning.

I suggest that if food arrives chilled, and you aren't going to eat it immediately, put it in the freezer straight away.
- De-virusing happens when you take it out of the freezer and cook it.
- You need to get all internal parts of a chicken above 75C to kill any salmonella; this does a good job of killing coronavirus too!