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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Food Safety and Intervention Technologies Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #290269
Title: High pressure treatment of human norovirus-like particles: factors affecting destruction efficacy

Author
item LOU, FANGFEI - The Ohio State University
item LI, XINHUI - University Of Delaware
item HUANG, PENGWI - University Of Delaware
item Gurtler, Joshua
item Niemira, Brendan
item JIANG, XI - University Of Cincinnati
item CHEN, HAIQIANG - University Of Delaware
item LI, JIANRONG - The Ohio State University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/2013
Publication Date: 7/16/2013
Citation: Lou, F., Li, X., Huang, P., Gurtler, J., Niemira, B.A., Jiang, X., Chen, H., Li, J. 2013. High pressure treatment of human norovirus-like particles: factors affecting destruction efficacy. Meeting Abstract. IFT Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois.,July 13-16, 2013. Volume 1, Page 1..

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Human norovirus (HuNoV) is the leading cause of foodborne diseases worldwide. High pressure processing (HPP) is considered a promising non-thermal technology to inactivate viral pathogens in foods. However, the effectiveness of HPP on inactivating HuNoV remains poorly understood because it cannot be grown in cell culture. HuNoV virus-like particles (VLPs) are a good model reflecting the biology of HuNoV since they are structurally and morphologically similar to native virions. The objective of this study was to determine efficacy of high pressure on destruction of HuNoV VLPs by optimizing various parameters, including temperature (4-60 deg C), pH (2.5-6.5), and salt concentration at commercially-acceptable pressure levels. The effectiveness of HPP on disrupting the capsid of HuNoV was evaluated based on the structure and functional-integrity of VLPs and histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) receptor binding assays. Our results demonstrated that HuNoV VLPs were more easily disrupted by HPP at higher temperatures. VLPs destruction was significantly greater at 20 deg C compared to 4 deg C at 600-700 MPa. HuNoV VLPs were more sensitive to high pressure at neutral pH (6.5) than at acidic pH (2.5-4.5). Additionally, salts can provide baroprotective effects on viral capsids during HPP treatment. Taken together, our results demonstrate that HPP is capable of inactivating HuNoV VLPs at commercially-acceptable pressure levels (less than or equal to 700 MPa) within a short holding time (less than or equal to 2min) under optimized processing parameters (elevated temperatures, neutral pH, and low salts). These data also suggest that temperature-assisted HPP may be an effective strategy for inactivating highly pressure-resistant HuNoV VLPs. Although HuNoV VLPs may not be completely representative of viable HuNoV, destruction of the VLP capsid is highly suggestive of a typical inactivation response by viable HuNoV.