Impactos da pandemia da covid-19 na indústria de alimentos

The covid-19 pandemic had its first insights dated December 31, 2019, and since then, information on how all areas need to deal with the circumstance is constantly evolving and changing. In this scenario, as an essential segment, the food industry needs to adapt and readjust its activity processes throughout the chain, since it cannot interrupt its operation. However, official or even unofficial information is confusing, disorganized, and this reality justified the present study, which aims to analyze the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on the food industry. This is a basic, exploratory, bibliographic and qualitative research, through which we sought to understand the scenario of the food industry in the advent of the covid-19 pandemic, to understand what knowledge about the coronavirus and covid-19 is up to date and should be, in fact, considered, study the legislation and official recommendations related to the pandemic that affect the food industry, and know the practices and attitudes that are being recommended in the current literature for the various sectors of the food industry. Knowledge was compiled, in an organized and up-to-date manner, about the effects of the pandemic on national legislation and Anvisa standards, food safety and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), the health and safety of employees in the workplace, the personal and surface hygiene, the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), implications in the food service sector, the role of the Food Engineering professional, and future perspectives on the subject. It was not intended to exhaust specific subjects, such as the deepening of protocols, procedures, GMPs, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), cleaning recommendations and risk assessment, but rather to present the impacts observed in an organized and updated way, which is the result of the research. It was found that some procedures to be taken into account would have to be followed even in the absence of a health crisis. The impacts of the pandemic on the food industry therefore imply the implementation of new measures and also the adoption and reinforcement of existing ones.