Chapter 13
Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Application
of General Principles of Food Hygiene
to Control of Viruses in Food
Ingeborg L.A. Boxman
Introduction
Human viruses can be transmitted directly from person-to person, but also indirectly via virus-contaminated water, air, soil, surfaces or food. Some viruses are
transmitted from animals to humans. Among others, the human enteric viruses most
frequently reported as involved in foodborne outbreaks are norovirus (NoV) and
hepatitis A virus (HAV). They infect via the gastrointestinal tract, enter living host
cells in order to be able to multiply (replicate), and are excreted in faeces and/or
vomit. High numbers of viral particles are shed in the stools or in vomit, whereas
only a few viral/infectious particles (less than 100) are needed to cause infection that
may lead to illness. Secondary spread of these viruses after primary introduction is
common and often results in larger, prolonged outbreaks (Anon. 2008, 2011a, b).
These viruses can persist for months in food or in the environment and are more
resistant than bacteria to commonly used control measures. In general, testing of
foods for foodborne viruses is challenging and is based on detection of viral nucleic
acids. Low levels of viruses may not be detected due to low extraction efficiency
and/or the presence of PCR-interfering substances. Furthermore it is important to
note that these methods cannot be used to distinguish between infectious and noninfectious viruses, which would allow an exact determination of whether the food
poses a risk to human health (Anon. 2008, 2011a, b).
During the FAO/WHO Expert meeting on “Viruses in Food” (Anon. 2008), NoV
and HAV were determined to be the viruses of greatest concern from a food safety
perspective. Estimates of the proportion of viral illness attributed to food are in the
range of around 5 % for HAV and 12–47 % for NoV. Furthermore, three major
I.L.A. Boxman ()
Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), P.O. Box 144, 6700 AC Wageningen,
The Netherlands
e-mail: Ingeborg.boxman@vwa.nl
G. Sauv´ e (ed.), Molluscan Shellfish Safety, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6588-7 13,
© Springer ScienceCBusiness Media Dordrecht 2014
157
Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Application
of General Principles of Food Hygiene
to Control of Viruses in Food
Ingeborg L.A. Boxman
Introduction
Human viruses can be transmitted directly from person-to person, but also indirectly via virus-contaminated water, air, soil, surfaces or food. Some viruses are
transmitted from animals to humans. Among others, the human enteric viruses most
frequently reported as involved in foodborne outbreaks are norovirus (NoV) and
hepatitis A virus (HAV). They infect via the gastrointestinal tract, enter living host
cells in order to be able to multiply (replicate), and are excreted in faeces and/or
vomit. High numbers of viral particles are shed in the stools or in vomit, whereas
only a few viral/infectious particles (less than 100) are needed to cause infection that
may lead to illness. Secondary spread of these viruses after primary introduction is
common and often results in larger, prolonged outbreaks (Anon. 2008, 2011a, b).
These viruses can persist for months in food or in the environment and are more
resistant than bacteria to commonly used control measures. In general, testing of
foods for foodborne viruses is challenging and is based on detection of viral nucleic
acids. Low levels of viruses may not be detected due to low extraction efficiency
and/or the presence of PCR-interfering substances. Furthermore it is important to
note that these methods cannot be used to distinguish between infectious and noninfectious viruses, which would allow an exact determination of whether the food
poses a risk to human health (Anon. 2008, 2011a, b).
During the FAO/WHO Expert meeting on “Viruses in Food” (Anon. 2008), NoV
and HAV were determined to be the viruses of greatest concern from a food safety
perspective. Estimates of the proportion of viral illness attributed to food are in the
range of around 5 % for HAV and 12–47 % for NoV. Furthermore, three major
I.L.A. Boxman ()
Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), P.O. Box 144, 6700 AC Wageningen,
The Netherlands
e-mail: Ingeborg.boxman@vwa.nl
G. Sauv´ e (ed.), Molluscan Shellfish Safety, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6588-7 13,
© Springer ScienceCBusiness Media Dordrecht 2014
157