VITAL: Integrated Monitoring and Control of Foodborne Viruses in European Food supply chains

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1 VITAL: Integrated Monitoring and Control of Foodborne Viruses in European Food supply chains Control y análisis de virus contaminantes en la cadena de producción alimentaria europea Bilbao, November 2011

2 Objective: The concept of VITAL is the integrated risk assessment and management of contamination of the European farm to market food supply chain by pathogenic viruses. Specific objectives: 1. To acquire data on virus contamination of food and environmental sources suitable for quantitative viral risk assessment 2. To assess foodborne viral risks for determining high risk situations and efficacy of interventions 3. To develop new measures to prevent virus contamination of foods and the environment 4. To develop and assess measures for virus reduction and control in case of virus contamination

3 Resultados más destacados: Parte de los resultados están actualmente siendo evaluados, ya que el proyecto ha terminado en septiembre Se han adaptado los protocolos existentes para la cuantificación de virus en alimentos, agua y superficies y se han producido datos interesantes de presencia de patógenos virales como norovirus y hepatitis E y de la aplicabilidad e interés de la utilización de indicadores virales de contaminación, como los adenovirus humanos y los adenovirus porcinos. También se dispone de datos sobre la eficiencia de tratamientos de desinfección como cloro o radiaciones UV sobre adenovirus. Se están llevando a cabo estudios de evaluación del riesgo con los datos obtenidos en el proyecto.

4 General conclusion of the project: Overall, VITAL has demonstrated that there are vulnerabilities in the food supply chains, and that these vulnerabilities can occur at critical points of non-compliance with good practice. Future strategies could include adopting controls at these critical points, and evaluating the effect of control measures on virus contamination, by monitoring the indicator viruses after control.

5 Participantes: El coordinador es Nigel, Cook, Defra, United Kingdom. El total de participantes son 13 laboratorios europeos Más información Página web del proyecto: eurovital.csl.gov.uk Página web del laboratorio de Rosina Girones: Acciones producidas Code of Good Practice for Producers to control foodborne viral contamination Symposium: "New Developments in Monitoring and Control of Viruses in Food Supply Chains" Workshop: "Taking Forward New Developments in Monitoring and Control of Viruses in Food Supply Chains" Training Course for Analysts: "Monitoring of Viruses in Food Supply Chains" Training Course for Risk Managers in the Food Industry: "Control of Viruses in Food Supply Chains"

6 A long trip through the environment Viral excretion Wastewater Food handling Foodborne infections Seawater Irrigation water Drinking water Waterborne infections

7 Vital s monitoring methodology and target viruses

8 VITAL: Integrated Monitoring and Control of Foodborne Viruses in European Food supply chains Work package no. Work package title Type of activity 1 Project management MGT 2 Data-Gathering: Production RTD 3 Data-Gathering: Processing RTD 4 Data-Gathering: Point of sale RTD 5 Data analysis RTD 6 Control measures RTD 7 Delivering impact RTD MGT: Management of the consortium RTD: Research and technological development.

9 HAdV have a double role as pathogens/indicators of human fecal contamination Adenoviruses have been described as pathogens and as indicators of fecal contamination as they are excreted by human populations worldwide in high loads and therefore, they are present in the environment and food. (Puig et al. 1994, Pina et al. 1998, Formiga-Cruz et al. 2002, Bofill-Mas et al. 2006) Human adenoviruses are stable in the environment and highly resistant to treatments comonly used in wastewater and drinking water treatment plants. (Meng and Gerba 1996, Gerba et al. 2002, Thompson et al. 2003)

10 1. Stability of infectious HAdV in water and food

11 1.1 Stability of infectious HAdV in potential sources of fecal contamination At dark, infective HAdV present in the sources of fecal contamination remain stable at lower temperatures. Simulated solar radiation has an effect on HAdV infectivity in all water matrices showing 1-2,5 logs of reduction when comparing to the same conditions developed at dark. At 37 C, a thermal related decay is observed in wastewater, mineral water containing wastewater (1/1000) and seawater. 6-log reduction that may be due to biotic factors were found. In these conditions, this decay overlaps the described effect of the simulated sunlight.

12 2.1 Stability of infectious HAdV in food Both at dark and under sunlight simulation, HAdV infectivity has been observed to remain stable at 4 C in lettuce and strawberry samples. At 30ºC, temperature has an important role in inactivating HAdV in these food matrices. Almost 4-log reductions have been detected both at dark and under sunlight simulation conditions. Our results suggest temperature as the main factor inactivating viruses in lettuce and strawberries.

13 2. HAdV inactivation by elimination procedures applied in food industry

14 2.1 Chemical-based elimination procedures: HAdV chlorine disinfection in water Water matrices studied: Buffered demand free water (BDF) Natural sea water Artificial sea water Experimental conditions: spiked water is treated in glassbeakers for 60 minutes. The free chlorine dose is measured during the assay by a colorimetrical method. Non-chlorinated controls are also developed in parallel. Sampling: water samples are taken at different times from 0 to 1 h (0, 10, 20, 30 and 60 min) and HAdV infectivity and qpcr are immediately analyzed.

15 2.1 Chemical-based elimination procedures: main conclusions In water receiving a 10% of sewage, a Ct value of 22 minutes has been calculated for obtaining a 2-log reduction of HAdV infectivity. The obtained kynetics of HAdV inactivation fit the Efficiency Hom Model (EFH). Once the parameters for the model are estimated, the time values for 2, 3 and 4- log inactivation of the viruses have been also estimated. In the tested conditions, no significant differences have been observed between HAdV inactivation in natural seawater and in artificial seawater. These results suggest that regarding viral disinfection, artificial seawater might be used in shellfish depurating plants.

16 2.2 UV-light radiation of HAdV stocks: main conclusions Disagreggation based on glycine treatments applied to viral stocks show good results when observing by electron microscopy. Although qpcr results show a lower decay due to the UV treatment, 1- log of HAdV inactivation has been detected. This results are consistent considering that UV radiation has an incidence to viral genomes. HAdV type 2 show high stability to UV-light irradiation by low pressure lamps (253,7 nm fluence), achieving around 2 logs of decay after the treatment.

17 2.3 Inactivation of HAdV in shellfish depurating plants: Main conclusions HAdV presence in mussel samples has been detected both before and after depuration. Infectious adenoviruses have been identified by IFA both before and after depuration in shellfish samples. The depuration processes analyzed in this study are not totally efficient to achieve the complete elimination of viral pathogens potentially present in shellfish samples.

18 Vital s partners Participating institutes Defra Catholic University of Leuven Veterinary research institute University of Helsinky University of Patras Instituto superiore di sanita National institut for public health and the environment Wageningen University Research National veterinary research institute Scientific veterinary institute Novi Sad University of Ljubljana Country United Kingdom Belgium Czech Republic Finland Greece Italy Netherlands Netherlands Poland Serbia Slovenia Instituto tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León Universitat de Barcelona Spain Spain

19 Our team! We thank Regina Sommer from the Medical University of Vienna for collaborating in the UV studies. We also thank Adriana A. Correa, a visiting scientist from the University of Florianópolis for collaborating in seawater chlorination studies. Aiora Aregita Anna Carratalà Ayalkibet Hundesa Sandra Fresno Jesús Rodriguez Marta Rusiñol Byron Calgua Laura Guerrero Rosina Girones Sílvia Bofill