Viruses in food

Illness following consumption of food that was contaminated with viruses has been recognized as early as 1914, when four cases of paralytic illness were described among children in an English community who drank raw milk from a common source.

Viruses are defined as non-cellular consisting of nucleic acid and protein that reproduce in host cells.

The word virus was originally used in Latin, seemingly to denote a disease agent but perhaps more of a poison than an infectious agent.

They are smallest and perhaps the simplest form of life and are a concern of food service management because unlike bacteria viruses do not multiply outside a living cell in food products and are no complete cells.

Viruses like parasites, pose great problems for food safety because they are environmentally stable, are resistant to many of the traditional methods used to control bacteria and have now infectious doses. Viruses can cause as much foodborne disease as bacteria but cannot grow in foods.

Virtually any food can served as a vehicle for transmission, it’s not clear just how pervasive food borne viral illnesses are, partly because viruses are difficult to test for.

Factors that influence the survival of viruses in food include the composition of the food, the properties of the virus and the conditions under which food is stored or processed.
Viruses in food