Molecular Detection Methods of Foodborne Viruses

Abstract

The identification of a viral pathogen as the cause of foodborne illness is epidemiologically linking a particular food item that ill patients have consumed to the detection of a virus in their stool specimens and the absence of the same virus in stool specimens of healthy consumers who did not consumed that particular food. Hepatitis A virus and norovirus are the most important viruses based on the number of foodborne virus outbreaks and people affected. The detection of viruses in foods poses a greater challenge as unlike most foodborne bacteria, viruses cannot be enriched. This chapter provides a review of molecular detection methods of foodborne viruses from different food matrices. Advances in molecular techniques e.g., RT-PCR, real-time PCR, microarray, biosensors, and next generation sequencing (NGS) have now made the detection of small amounts of HAV and norovirus more feasible. Real-time PCR detection of viral nucleic acid offers one of the best approaches for the sensitive detection of foodborne viruses in food matrices. NGS methods have opened new avenues for sensitive detection of viruses in food and clinical samples. Once the sensitivity of these novel methods is improved, they have the potential to become the gold standard laboratory method to investigate foodborne outbreaks.