Comparative recovery of foodborne viruses from fresh produce

A large percentage of foodborne outbreaks are caused by viruses, and outbreaks associated with fresh produce have increased over the past decade within the United States. Virus recovery from food is of the utmost importance in determining the cause of viral outbreaks. While there are many experimental studies investigating viruses on fruits and vegetables, there is a lack of standard techniques concerning the initial inoculation and recovery of viruses. This study investigates the efficiency of methodology in the recovery of three viruses, hepatitis A virus (HAV), Aichi virus, and feline calicivirus, on three different produce surfaces (lettuce, green onions, and strawberries). To do so, three common times of virus inoculation were examined (0.5, 4, and 12 h) along with two routes of inoculation (immersion and spot inoculation), and then two recovery methods were compared (physical removal and chemical extraction/blending) utilizing three different recovery eluents (2% media, beef extract, and phosphate-buffered saline). Results suggested that incubation time did not significantly affect the survival of the viruses on green onions and strawberries, while a significant decrease (p 0.05); however, the percent recovery was greater by extraction/blending methodology.