Purpose: The objectives of this research were (1) to determine the effects of HPH alone or with an emulsifier (lecithin) on human norovirus surrogates, murine norovirus (MNV-1) and feline calicivirus (FCV-F9), in skim milk and orange juice (OJ); and (2) to determine HPH effects on FCV-F9 and MNV-1 in juice blends such as OJ blended with pomegranate juice (PJ).
Methods: Experiments were conducted with FCV-F9 and MNV-1 in duplicate with each fluid food or lecithin combination at 0, 100, 200, 250, and 300 MPa for <2 s in a high pressure homogenizer system and plaque assayed in duplicate.
Results: For FCV-F9 in milk, ≥ 4 and ~1.3 log PFU/ml reduction at 300 and 250 MPa; while ≥4 and ~1 log PFU/ml reduction in OJ were obtained only at 300 and 250 MPa, respectively. FCV-F9 was reduced to non-detectable levels at 300 MPa, and by 1.77 and 0.78 log PFU/ml at 250 MPa in OJ or milk combined with lecithin, respectively. MNV-1 in milk was reduced by ~1.3 log PFU/ml only at 300 MPa, while was reduced by ~0.8 and ~0.4 log PFU/ml in OJ at 300 and 250 MPa, respectively. MNV-1 in milk or OJ containing lecithin showed improved 1.32 or 2.5 log PFU/ml reduction, respectively at 300 MPa. In the PJ-OJ combination, FCV-F9 was completely reduced, and MNV-1 was reduced by 1.04 and 1.78 log PFU/ml at 250 MPa and 300 MPa, respectively.
Significance: These results show that HPH has potential for commercial use to inactivate foodborne viruses in juices. Lecithin and juice combinations may provide additional benefit for the inactivation of these viral surrogates.