Food News

We have successfully established and validated qRT-PCR test for virus detection in fruit and vegetables in our AGROLAB laboratory Dr.Blasy- Dr.Busse. The test can be ordered through all food laboratories within the AGROLAB GROUP.

Norovirus is a highly contagious virus. Anyone can get infected with norovirus and get sick.It can spread quickly in closed places like day-care centres, nursing homes, schools, and cruise ships.Norovirus causes inflammation of the stomach or intestines or both. This is called acute gastroenteritis. Symptoms appear within 12-48 hours after infection: diarrhoea, throwing up, nausea stomach pain and later fever, head ache and body aches.

Infections happen usually by eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with norovirus,touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus then putting your fingers in your mouth, or having contact with someone who is infected with norovirus (for example, caring for or sharing food or eating utensils with someone with norovirus illness).

In the past several outbreaks were reported coming from fresh fruit, fruit preparations (e.g. frozen fruit puree) and vegetables contaminated by the virus.

There is no specific medicine to treat people with norovirus illness. Norovirus infection cannot be treated with antibiotics because it is a viral (not a bacterial) infection.

Worldwide, about one out of every five cases of acute gastroenteritis is caused by norovirus. It is responsible for 685 million cases every year, 200 million of these cases are among children younger than 5 years old. This leads to an estimated 50,000 child deaths every year, nearly all of which occur in developing countries.

We have now developed a sensitive detection method using RT-PCR (Reverse Transkriptase- Polymerase chain reaction by which the RNA (ribonucleic acid) from the virus particle is replicated and detected. The problem is that viruses in contrary to bacteria cannot be grown in-vitro. Therefor it is crucial, that we can isolate sufficient virus particles from the sample surface. This led to different preparation methods depending on the kind of fruit/Vegetable we have to check.

Another foodborne threat derived from virus infections is Hepatitis A (HAV) and rare Hepatitis E virus (HEV) which is also transmitted in the same way as Norovirus. Hepatitis A and E viruses usually cause flu-like symptoms but can also lead to an acute disease of the liver.

Foodborne infections are caused by lack of hygiene during growing, harvesting and later processing of fruit and vegetables and their preparation. Other sources of infection are often shellfish and other seafood. All of the viruses mentioned are related to faecal contamination and they are highly contagious and can survive on the surface of food for several days.

With our test systems we can analyse for each one, two or all three viruses in fruit and vegetable samples together in a package offer.

Please ask for your individual offer.

More Informationen on onlinelibrary.wiley.com.