Preventing Norovirus Outbreaks: Applying the Science to Food Safety Programs

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Norovirus (NoV) is now recognized as the leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States and in the western world. Current estimates attribute more than 50% of all foodborne outbreaks of gastroenteritis in the U.S. to NoV. NoV gastroenteritis is an infectious disease in the community that can result from foodborne, waterborne, person-to-person, or environment-to-person means of transmission. Epidemiological evidence indicates that infected food worker handling of ready-to-eat food immediately before consumption is the leading cause of the illness. However, the complexity and interrelatedness of NoV gastroenteritis transmission pathways, (including person-to-person, environment-to-person, airborne, foodborne, and waterborne transmission) requires consideration of NoV as an infectious disease in the community when developing effective mitigation strategies for NoV foodborne illness. This panel presentation will provide an overview of the challenges encountered with the control and prevention of NoV outbreaks, as well as a description of some unique experiences with the use of innovative control mechanisms. The panel presentation will end with a panel discussion on what changes are needed to have an impact on preventing future foodborne norovirus outbreaks.