Research Publications (Food Safety)

Globally, norovirus is the most common gastroenteritis causing pathogen. Annually, norovirus causes 685 million cases of acute gastroenteritis and 200,000 deaths, worldwide. Recent evidence has suggested that norovirus can also be spread via aerosolization; however, an indoor generation source has yet to be determined. We optimized a sampling method for the collection of aerosolized norovirus using murine norovirus (MNV) as a surrogate.

Highly sensitive detection of pathogens is effective for screening meat during quarantine inspection and export. The “micro-amount of virion enrichment technique” (MiVET) was recently developed, which is a new method combining virus concentration with immunomagnetic beads and simple RNA extraction with sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS) for the specific and sensitive detection of avian influenza viruses (AIVs).

The availability of drinking water is one of the main determinants of quality of life, disease prevention and the promotion of health. Viruses are important agents of waterborne diseases and have been described as important markers of human faecal contamination. This study aimed to investigate viruses’ presence as an indicator of drinking water quality in low-income communities in the Manguinhos area, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Human noroviruses are the major cause of non-bacterial acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Since no therapeutic agent has been proven to prevent human norovirus infection yet, preventive healthcare interventions to block the infection routes play an important role in infection control. One of the possible infection routes of human noroviruses are through contaminated hands, but no hand antiseptics have been proven effective.

The U.S. FDA Food Safety Modernization Act Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule emphasizes the importance of an effective environmental monitoring (EM) program. This study aims to characterize polyurethane foam (PUF) EM tools—currently used in the food industry for the recovery of bacteria from food contact surfaces—for their efficacy in the release and recovery of human enteric viruses.

Human bocavirus (HBoV) has a global distribution and is associated with respiratory and enteric infections, particularly in the paediatric population. In this study, raw sewage and mussel samples were analysed for the presence of HBoV using nested PCR with primers targeting the VP1/VP2 junction. Amplification and sequencing of the 382 bp region followed by phylogenetic analysis indicated the presence of HBoV 2 in mussel samples and HBoV 3 in sewage samples.

Wastewater represents the main reusable water source after being adequately sanitized by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this sense, only bacterial quality indicators are usually checked to this end, and human pathogenic viruses usually escape from both sanitization procedures and controls, posing a health risk on the use of effluent waters.

We modeled Group A Rotavirus (RVA) and Norovirus genogroup II (GII NoV) transport experiments in standardized (crystal quartz sand and deionized water with adjusted pH and ionic strength) and natural soil matrix-water systems (MWS). On the one hand, in the standardized MWS, Rotavirus and Norovirus showed very similar breakthrough curves (BTCs), showing a removal rate of 2 and 1.7 log10, respectively.

Detection of noroviruses in bivalve shellfish is difficult because of the low concentration of norovirus and the presence of reverse transcription (RT)-PCR inhibitors. This study aimed to assess the presence of noroviruses in oysters extracted using a proteinase K extraction (ISO 15216 method) and an adsorption–elution method. Seventy oyster samples were extracted using the two extraction methods and evaluated using RT-nested PCR.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic virus that can cause acute hepatitis in humans. Besides the fecal–oral route, transmission can occur by consumption of undercooked pig liver. Genotype 3 is the most frequent genotype found in Europe. Studies on HEV in slaughter-age pigs have not been conducted in Serbia so far. Pork meat production and consumption in Serbia is on average, higher than in the rest of Europe.

Bivalve mollusks as filter-feeders concentrate in their digestive tissue microorganisms likely present in the harvesting water, thus becoming risky food especially if consumed raw or poorly cooked. To eliminate bacteria and viruses eventually accumulated, they must undergo a depuration process which efficacy on viruses is on debate.

Norovirus is commonly associated with food and waterborne outbreaks. Genetic susceptibility to norovirus is largely dependent on presence of histo-blood group antigens (HBGA), specifically ABO, secretor, and Lewis phenotypes. The aim of the study was to determine the association between HBGAs to norovirus susceptibility during a large norovirus foodborne outbreak linked to genotype GII.6 in an office-based company in Stockholm, Sweden, 2015.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a zoonotic agent, which is mainly transmitted by consumption of undercooked meat products originating from infected animals. Domestic pigs and wild boars are the major animal reservoirs, but HEV infections have been also repeatedly described in wild deer species. However, farmed deer has been only sparsely investigated so far.

Foodborne viral diseases are a major public health threat and pose a huge burden on the economies of both developed and developing countries. Enteric viruses are the causative agents of most foodborne illnesses and outbreaks. Egypt is classified by WHO among the regions with intermediate to high endemicity for various enteric viruses.

Five human-specific markers were detected in 59–74% of 27 human fecal-source samples collected in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Similarly, potential human-specific markers, crAssphage, pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), and tobacco mosaic virus were detected in 96–100% of samples, with crAssphage showing the maximum concentration of 12.03 log copies/L.

The aim of this study was to determine the origin (human, bovine or porcine) and the concentration of the fecal sources of contamination in waters from Santa Lucía basin and Uruguay River in Uruguay by using host-specific viral markers (adenoviruses and polyomaviruses) as microbial source tracking (MST). Between June 2015 and May 2016, monthly collections of surface water samples were performed in six sites in Santa Lucía basin and four sites in Uruguay River (n = 120 samples).

Monitoring of environmental water is crucial to protecting humans and animals from possible health risks. Although numerous human-specific viral markers have been designed to track the presence of human fecal contamination in water, they lack adequate sensitivity and specificity in different geographical regions.

While one of the biggest problems we are facing today is water scarcity, enormous quantities of water are still being used in irrigation. If contaminated, this water can act as an effective pathway for the spread of disease-causing agents, like viruses. Here, we present a novel, environmentally friendly method known as cold atmospheric plasma for inactivation of viruses in water used in closed irrigation systems.

In industrialized countries, hepatitis E is now recognized as an emerging zoonosis. Autochthonous cases have been increased over recent years in Europe and are mainly associated with HEV-3 infections. Pigs and wild boars are considered the main reservoirs of the zoonotic HEV-3 and HEV-4 genotypes. Over the past decade, the number of wild boars has drastically increased in Europe.

Foodborne viruses are a global threat to food safety. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the most commonly used method to detect viral RNA in food. Armored RNA (AR) prepared using the MS2 phage system is a successful positive control for detecting foodborne viruses and is an important quality control process when using real-time RT-PCR.

This study aimed to optimize a method to identify human enteric viruses in sewage and stool samples using random primed next-generation sequencing. We tested three methods, two employed virus enrichment based on the binding properties of the viral capsid using pig-mucin capture or by selecting viral RNA prior to library preparation through a capture using the SureSelect target enrichment. The third method was based on a non-specific biophysical precipitation with polyethylene glycol.

This study investigated the synergistic effects of combined chlorine (200, 500, 700, and 1000 ppm) and vitamin B1 (1000, 2000, and 3000 ppm) on the murine norovirus-1 (MNV-1), a human norovirus (NoV) surrogate, on oyster surface. Vitamin B1 slightly reduced MNV-1 (0.04–0.3 log-reduction), whereas chlorine significantly reduced MNV-1 (0.4–1.0 log-reduction). The combined chlorine and vitamin B1 resulted in a 0.52–1.97 log-reduction of MNV-1.

This study was conducted to evaluate the microbiological quality of a mangrove estuary in the Vitória Bay region, Espírito Santo, Brazil. We analyzed the presence and concentration of enteric viruses and thermotolerant coliforms in water, mussels (Mytella charruana and Mytella guyanensis), and oysters (Crassostrea rhizophorae), collected over a 13-month period. Human adenovirus, rotavirus A (RVA), and norovirus genogroup II were analyzed by quantitative PCR.

The effectiveness of steady-state levels of gaseous chlorine dioxide (ClO2) against Tulane virus (TV), a human norovirus surrogate, on berries was determined. The generated ClO2 was maintained at 1 mg/L inside a 269 L glove box to treat two 50 g batches of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, and two 100 g batches of strawberries that were immersion coated with TV.

Human noroviruses (hNoV) are the primary cause of foodborne disease in the USA. Most studies on inactivation kinetics of hNoV and its surrogates are performed in monoculture, while the microbial ecosystem effect on virus inactivation remains limited.