Research Publications (Food Safety)

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. Aims Norovirus remains the most significant virological risk that is transmitted via food and the environment to cause acute gastroenteritis.

Between 2016 and 2021, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) collected 4218 samples of fresh and frozen berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and mixed berries) and pomegranate arils at retail across 11 major cities in Canada and tested these samples for the presence of norovirus GI, norovirus GII and hepatitis A virus RNA.

Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Volume 69, Issue 4, Page 1872-1879, July 2022. Noroviruses belong to a genetically diverse group of viruses infecting a wide range of mammalian host species, and those detected in cattle and sheep are classified within genogroup III (GIII).

The fucosyltransferase 2 gene (FUT2) mediates the synthesis of histoblood group antigens (HBGA) that occur in vivo from multiple organs, particularly on the surface of intestinal epithelial cells and body fluids. To date, many studies have demonstrated that the interaction of HBGA with the host microbiota is the cause of pathogenesis of intestinal diseases, making FUT2 non-secretor a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) due to the lack of HBGA.

Share tables (ST) allow students to share unwanted food items with other students in school cafeterias, making them a possible method to reduce food waste and insecurity. This study assesses potential food safety risks and food security benefits of a ST system, to assess if future work on STs is warranted. But food safety concerns from stakeholders hinder ST implementation.

Fucoidan extracted from Fucus versiculosus was able to inhibit the replication of human noroviruses (hNoV) GII.4[P16] in zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae. In the hNoV infected zebrafish larvae, a transcriptomic analysis showed significant upregulation (p < 0.01) of the interferons (IFNs) signaling related genes as well as a series of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) encoding antiviral effectors compared to the mock-infected controls.

Background The National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) captures data on foodborne, waterborne, and enteric illness outbreaks in the United States. This study describes enteric illness outbreaks reported during 11 years of surveillance. Methods We extracted finalized reports from NORS for outbreaks occurring during 2009–2019.

Little data on the persistence of human norovirus infectivity are available to predict its transmissibility. Using human intestinal enteroids, we demonstrate that 2 human norovirus strains can remain infectious for several weeks in seawater. Such experiments can improve understanding of factors associated with norovirus survival in coastal waters and shellfish.

mBio, Volume 13, Issue 2, April 2022. Human norovirus (HuNoV) is the leading cause of epidemic and sporadic acute gastroenteritis worldwide. HuNoV transmission occurs predominantly by direct person-to-person contact, and its health burden is associated with poor hand hygiene and a lack of effective antiseptics and disinfectants.

Viruses are a leading cause of foodborne disease worldwide. Human norovirus and hepatitis viruses (hepatitis A (HAV) and hepatitis E (HEV)) are recognised to be the main viruses of importance to public health. The ISO 15216 procedure describes molecular methods for detecting HAV and norovirus in bottled water by using an electropositive filter to concentrate viruses.

Environmental monitoring (EM) programs are designed to detect the presence of pathogens in food manufacturing environments with the goal of preventing microbial contamination of food. Nevertheless, limited knowledge exists regarding the influence of environmental conditions on microbial recovery during EM. This study utilizes a commercially-available polyurethane foam (PUF) EM tool to determine the influence of environmental factors on the recovery of foodborne pathogens.

Slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW), an effective non-thermal virucidal treatment, is used widely to prevent infectious viral cross-contamination. Surface disinfection technologies using ultraviolet C-light-emitting diode (UVC-LED) irradiation have recently attracted considerable attention. The SAEW sprayer technique is an efficient approach to preventing the spread of infectious viral pathogens in the public healthcare sector.

Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, Accepted Article. This study investigated the effect of NaOCl on the inactivation of human norovirus (HNoV) GII.4 infectivity in Manila clams treated with NaOCl solution at 100-1,000 mg/L chlorine for 10 min using propidium monoazide (PMA)/RT-qPCR.

Norovirus is a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in Taiwan. To improve diagnosis as part of laboratory surveillance, AGE surveillance was conducted using a new fluorescent probe hydrolysis-based insulated isothermal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, the POCKIT system, and the results were compared with those obtained from conventional methods. A total of 119 clinical stool samples from reported AGE outbreaks were collected for this study.

Wastewater discharge to the environment or its reuse after sanitization poses a concern for public health given the risk of transmission of human viral diseases. However, estimating the viral infectivity along the wastewater cycle presents technical challenges and still remains underexplored.

Human noroviruses (hNoV) are the leading cause of acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide and contaminated hands play a significant role in the spread of disease. Some hand sanitizers claim to interrupt hNoV transmission, but their antiviral efficacy on human hands is poorly characterized. The purpose of this work was to characterize the efficacy of representative commercial hand sanitizers against hNoV using an in vivo fingerpad method (ASTM E1838-17).

Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Accepted Article. Background The purpose of the present study was to examine the inactivation of Salmonella enterica (50 μL; 109 CFU/g), Listeria monocytogenes (50 μL; 109 CFU/g), and murine norovirus (MNV-1; 50 μL; 107 TCID50/mL) on whole and fresh-cut strawberries after 2-min disinfection treatments (water (H2O), chlorine 200 mg/L (NaClO), water-assisted UV-C (WUV), and th

Norovirus (NoV) foodborne illness reduction continues to be a focus for the food safety community.  Using a previously published quantitative risk assessment model (Duret et al ., 2017. Risk Anal. , 37:2080-2106), we evaluated more than sixty scenarios examining the impact of compliance and implementation of risk management strategies identified in the FDA Food Code associated with (a) surface cleaning/sanitizing; (b) hand hygiene; (c) exclusion; and (d) restriction.

Slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) is a commonly used disinfectant for fecal sludge. Although viruses are inactivated by lime treatment, whether RNA viruses adapt to lime treatment has not yet been determined. Here, we show that murine norovirus developed higher tolerance during serial passages with lime treatment.

The challenge to develop an animal model system to replicate human norovirus (HuNoV) has hampered the study of its pathogenesis and therapeutic intervention. In this study, we replicated HuNoV GII.4 and expressed genes in virus-infected zebrafish. Three doses of inoculation successfully replicated the virus.

The antinoroviral effect of copper ions is well known, yet most of this work has previously been conducted in copper and copper alloy surfaces, not copper ions in solution. In this work, we characterized the effects that Cu ions have on human norovirus capsids’ and surrogates’ integrity to explain empirical data, indicating virus inactivation by copper alloy surfaces, and as means of developing novel metal ion-based virucides.

Berries have been implicated as the probable vehicle of infection in multiple outbreaks of norovirus and hepatitis A virus (HAV). These foods often receive minimal or no processing and may be exposed to virus contamination at each stage of production. In an increasingly globalized world, berries have a wide distribution and can give rise to the spread of diseases in distant parts of the world.

Letters in Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. Noroviruses cause acute gastroenteritis with symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting, and their high infectivity allows outbreaks to readily occur. Quickly identifying and isolating potential contaminants is an effective method to prevent the spread of outbreaks.

There is an upward trend of consumption of organic fresh vegetables due to consumer demand for healthy foods without chemical additives. On the other hand, the number of food borne outbreaks associated with contaminated fresh produce has raised, being human norovirus genogroup I (GI), GII and hepatitis A virus (HAV) the most commonly reported causative agents.

A previously conducted national survey of restaurant inspection programs associated the practice of disclosing inspection results to consumers at the restaurant point-of-service (POS) with fewer foodborne outbreaks. We used data from the national Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System (FDOSS) to assess the reproducibility of the survey results.