To date, there has been no published comparison between the two
most promising surrogates for NoV and HAV, i.e., MNV-1 and
Mengovirus, in terms of virus extraction from different food matrices
using the three detection methods described in ISO/TS 15216. Due to
the differences in behavior among viruses and to the variability in
virus recovery according to the foodmatrix, it is hard to advocate a particular
virus strain as the best process control. However, the use of a
common control for RNA viruses would greatly facilitate comparison
betweenmethods and provide additional quality control for testing laboratories.
The aim of this study was to determine which virus (murine
norovirus (MNV-1) or Mengovirus) ismost appropriate to use as a process
control when testing for the presence of HAV, NoV GI and NoV GII
in bottled water, lettuce and semi-dried tomatoes.