Presence of hepatitis E virus in commercially available pork products

An increasing number of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections in industrialized countries have been foodborne and linked to the consumption undercooked pork products. To date, data on prevalence HEV products sold United States is limited no standard processing method exists for detection foods. In order develop a products, ground liver were selected development. Murine norovirus (MNV) was used as process control. A filtration step prior RNA shown reduce level PCR inhibitors an additional ultracentrifugation successful removing liver. MNV detected samples inoculated with 4.7 log10 PFU/g 3.0 PFU/g, respectively. Using developed viral liver, 20 packages (six 1 g sub-samples per package) 14 livers (four liver) screened presence RNA. Fifteen out 119 (12.6%) tested positive 13 (65%) contained at least one sample. Twenty-five 56 (45%) 6 (43%) had all test Overall, results indicate pig potential source HEV.