
Full text loading...
Category: Applied and Industrial Microbiology; Food Microbiology
Hepatitis A Virus in Ready-To-Eat Foods, Page 1 of 2
< Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1128/9781555817121/9781555815424_Chap27-1.gif /docserver/preview/fulltext/10.1128/9781555817121/9781555815424_Chap27-2.gifAbstract:
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) outbreaks linked to poor personal hygiene of infected food handlers have been reported in association with highly handled foods such as salads, sandwiches, and bakery products. This chapter lists some of the outbreaks associated with HAV and ready-to-eat (RTE) foods. Typically, detection of viruses in foods requires sequential steps of (i) sampling, (ii) virus concentration, (iii) detection, and (iv) confirmation. Following concentration and purification of HAV from food matrices, detection of the virus can be carried out using the following assays: (i) mammalian cell culture infectivity assays; (ii) immunological methods; or (iii) nucleic acid-based molecular methods. Confirmation methods are needed during the testing of food and environmental samples in order to eliminate false positives, because nonspecific products can be amplified from the food matrix components themselves. Confirmation methods include (i) direct sequencing of amplified PCR product, (ii) restriction digestion of the amplified product, (iii) Southern hybridizations, and (iv) nested PCR. These are briefly described since they are now rarely used. Real-time approaches are now being increasingly used instead.
Full text loading...
Scheme for HAV concentration from complex foods ( Sair et al., 2002b ).
HAV outbreaks associated with produce and RTE foods
Processing technologies for inactivation of HAV
Viral concentration methods for RTE foodsa
Traditional RT-PCR primers for the detection of HAV in RTE foods
Representative real-time RT-PCR approaches for HAV detectiona