Existing methods of removing norovirus in shellfish are an ineffective means of reducing contamination, according to a new report from a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) panel.
After a months-long investigation, the EFSA’s Panel on Biological Hazards advised risk managers to focus on preventing the contamination of shellfish-production areas rather than attempting to remove the virus from tainted product.
The panel’s recommendation comes less than two months after the UK’s Food Standards Agency reported that more than three-quarter of UK-grown oysters contain norovirus. The report garnered a lot of attention from the mainstream media in the UK.
Commonly known as the “winter vomiting bug,” the highly infectious virus is a major cause of acute gastroenteritis in Europe. The illness is generally mild and people usually recover fully within two to three days, and most norovirus infections are thought to spread from person to person and are not related oyster consumption.
The EFSA panel advised risk managers to look at establishing an acceptable limit for norovirus in oysters intended to be harvested and sold in the marketplace. Establishing overall microbiological criteria supports the setting of acceptable limits and determines the analytical methods, sampling plans and actions to be taken if criteria are not met. Such criteria can be useful for verifying compliance with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles and can be used as additional controls in harvest areas and at the processing and retail levels, according to the panel.
Additionally, the panel recommended conducting an EU-wide baseline survey on norovirus contamination in oysters to quantify consumer exposure. Such a survey would also provide information that could be used to evaluate the public health impact of control measures.
