Developments and Optimization of Non-thermal Technologies for Viral Inactivation

Enteric viruses, particularly human noroviruses (NoV) are the most common cause of foodborne disease, responsible for up to 50% of all outbreaks and cases per year in the U.S. and internationally.  Enteric viruses including NoV, hepatitis A and E viruses can enter the food supply through contaminated environmental factors or by contamination during handling and processing, resulting in outbreaks ranging from small isolated ones to epidemic.  Foods attributed to viral contamination are usually minimally processed, sensitive to quality changes and often without any thermal treatments prior to consumption.  A number of innovative non-thermal food processing technologies such as high pressure processing, high intensity pulsed light and traditional ultra-violet light and high powered ultrasound can be optimized for viral inactivation in/on these sensitive foods often without adverse effects to visual appearance.  Levels of viral inactivation can vary depending on technologies, surrogates used in the study and its analytical methods.  Inactivation levels usually range between 1 to 5 log reduction of human NoV surrogates.  The session will introduce audience to these technologies and steps taken to optimize these technologies for viral inactivation.  The session will also help to define the risk and criteria for viral inactivation and where are the gaps or limitations are for inactivation strategies.