Survival of Norovirus Surrogate on Various Food-Contact Surfaces

Abstract

Norovirus (NoV) is an environmental threat to humans, which spreads easily from one infected person to another, causing foodborne and waterborne diseases. Therefore, precautions against NoV infection are important in the preparation of food. The aim of this study was to investigate the survival of murine norovirus (MNV), as a NoV surrogate, on six different food-contact surfaces: ceramic, wood, rubber, glass, stainless steel, and plastic. We inoculated 10(5) PFU of MNV onto the six different surface coupons that were then kept at room temperature for 28 days. On the food-contact surfaces, the greatest reduction in MNV was 2.28 log(10) PFU/coupon, observed on stainless steel, while the lowest MNV reduction was 1.29 log(10) PFU/coupon, observed on wood. The rank order of MNV reduction, from highest to lowest, was stainless steel, plastic, rubber, glass, ceramic, and wood. The values of d (R) (time required to reduce the virus by 90 %) on survival plots of MNV determined by a modified Weibull model were 277.60 h (R (2) = 0.99) on ceramic, 492.59 h (R (2) = 0.98) on wood, 173.56 h on rubber (R (2) = 0.98), 97.18 h (R (2) = 0.94) on glass, 91.76 h (R (2) = 0.97) on stainless steel, and 137.74 h (R (2) = 0.97) on plastic. The infectivity of MNV on all food-contact surfaces remained after 28 days. These results show that MNV persists in an infective state on various food-contact surfaces for long periods. This study may provide valuable information for the control of NoV on various food-contact surfaces, in order to prevent foodborne disease.