Development of an optimized method for the recovery of infectious F-RNA coliphage MS2 from meat

► Recovery of MS2 from cellulose sponges using beef extract was significantly higher than tryptose phosphate broth and phosphate buffered saline. ► Significant differences were not observed between eluants with gauze and muscle. ► Significant differences were observed between sampling methods when recovering MS2 from muscle. ► Significant differences were observed between sampling methods when recovering MS2 from fat.