Foodborne viruses

• The most common foodborne viral syndromes are gastroenteritis and hepatitis.
• Riskiest foods include bivalve mollusks, soft fruits and ready-to-eat products.
• Reference methods are now ready for hepatitis A and norovirus detection in food.
• Hepatitis E virus is regarded as an emerging zoonotic foodborne threat.
• NGS approaches are technically challenging but highly promising for outbreak biotracing.

Among the wide variety of viral agents liable to be found as food contaminants, noroviruses and hepatitis A virus are responsible for most well characterized foodborne virus outbreaks. Additionally, hepatitis E virus has emerged as a potential zoonotic threat.Molecular methods, including an ISO standard, are available for norovirus and hepatitis A virus detection in foodstuffs, although the significance of genome copy detection with regard to the associated health risk is yet to be determined through viability assays.More precise and rapid methods for early foodborne outbreak investigation are being developed and they will need to be validated versus the ISO standard. In addition, protocols for next-generation sequencing characterization of outbreak-related samples must be developed, harmonized and validated as well.