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.  Viruses enter the food supply across the farm-to-fork chain by exposure to contaminated waters, surfaces, food and/or human hands and could persist in the environment and food contact surfaces for long periods of time. Unlike bacterial pathogens, for which there are widely used validated inactivation methods, such methods may not be effective or applicable to viruses. Foods attributed to virus contamination are usually minimally processed or handled incorrectly.  Therefore, any developed methods for the inactivation of viruses in these sensitive foods should balance between the need to inactivate viruses and bacterial pathogens and optimized food quality.  There have been a number of new developments in the area of legacy thermal and non-thermal processing technologies where tweaking of the processes can enhance the inactivation of viral pathogens. The session will explore the use of models to predict viral loads, help to define the risk and criteria for viral inactivation and where are the gaps or limitations of inactivation strategies.

Presentations