Characterization of a method to detect hepatitis A virus and norovirus in meat products

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) and norovirus are regularly involved in foodborne outbreaks associated with food of animal origin and meat products. This study aimed to characterize a viral elution-concentration method using polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation for recovering hepatitis A (HAV) and human noroviruses (genogroup I and genogroup II) from meat products. Various ready-to-eat meat products containing beef, pork, lamb, or chicken were artificially contaminated with HAV and human noroviruses. All the analyses included a process control virus and external amplification controls. The recovery efficiencies of viruses and the limit of detection (LOD) values were determined. Viral recovery from meat products in pure RNA extracts ranged from 1.22% to 100.00% for HAV, from 11.77% to 100.00% for norovirus GI, and from 2.83% to 35.97% for norovirus GII. Murine norovirus (MNV-1)-used as the sample process control virus-was successfully recovered from all samples (>1%) and the mean PCR inhibition rate was less than 50% for most of the foodstuffs analyzed. The LOD₅₀ calculated for all samples was 1.53 × 10⁴ genome copies/g for HAV and ranged between 13 and 61 genome copies/g for norovirus GI and norovirus GII. The LOD₉₅ was 6.66 × 10⁴ genome copies/g for HAV and ranged between 56 and 263 genome copies/g for norovirus GI and norovirus GII. This method could be used to investigate HAV and norovirus foodborne outbreaks involving meat products.