Identifying Control Strategies for Reducing Infectious Norovirus Contamination on Produce in the Harvest and Post-Harvest Farm Environment

To reduce death and illness attributed to norovirus in U.S. consumers, it is essential to implement risk-management strategies to prevent infectious norovirus contamination of fresh produce. However, effective risk-management strategies cannot yet be implemented, because the (1) levels of infectious norovirus contamination have not been measured on fresh produce using a validated laboratory method; (2) risk of norovirus infection and illness has not been comprehensively estimated to the fresh produce U.S. consumer; and 3) effective strategies on farms and packing facilities have not been evaluated and prioritized to reduce the risk of norovirus infection and illness to the U.S. To address these gaps, our Objectives are to:(1) Develop a validated laboratory method to quantify the frequency of infectious norovirus contamination in the agricultural environment.(2) Develop an integrated Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment and Infectious Disease Transmission Model that simulates the impact of norovirus contamination of produce and strategies for their control.(3) Identify produce safety strategies to reduce infectious norovirus contamination on produce in the harvest and post-harvest environment that maximize public health impact.This project responds to Program Area A1331 and will lead to validated laboratory assays that detect infectious norovirus on fresh produce. It will also lead to validated risk-management strategies that control infectious norovirus contamination on produce in farms and packing facilities and can be extended to other foodborne pathogens. These impacts will improve the safety of U.S. agricultural markets and consumers and improve the U.S. agricultural economy.