Norovirus, the number one cause of foodborne illness in the U.S., still remains a dynamic problem for the food industry and the scientific community. This symposium will emphasize significant progress and current knowledge gaps from a wide range of topics including diagnostics and biology to further our understanding and enhance our ability to control this virus. More specifically, the perspectives for, and against, standardization, as this has been applied to food testing protocols, will be evaluated. In addition, revelations identified from the soon to be published USDA/FDA National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods report on norovirus will be highlighted that will provide useful insight to help steer future research priorities. Lastly, as recent achievements to reproduce virus replication have had some, albeit limited success, several research labs may be on the cusp of developing a viable in vitro culture system for this virus. A detailed state to the art presentation on norovirus replication efforts describing how close we may be to a viable in vitro testing method will be also presented.

Presentations