NOROSTAN : potentiel d’indicateurs viraux pour estimer le caractère infectieux des norovirus humains dans les salades 1ère et 4ème gammes

This study aimed to provide tools to professionals to improve control measures against human norovirus (NoVs) in raw and ready-to-eat (RTE) salads. Ultimately, the goal is to limit unjustified product withdrawals and/or recalls from the market by applying the precautionary principle when the viral genome is detected even though the risk for the consumer has not been proven (i.e. viral genome detected despite the absence of infective virus). To date, the available methods do not allow the infective nature of NoVs to be determined routinely in laboratories. In this context, the objective of this project was to propose a sensitive and economically competitive method for discriminating between infectious and non-infectious NoVs in alads, using F-RNA-specific bacteriophages (FRNAPHs) and fecal coliphages, viral indicators of viral ontamination of fecal origin. The results showed that FRNAPHs do not seem relevant indicators of infectious NoV hazard in salads. On the other hand, coliphages appear more promising, but their interest as still to be validated by complementary works. This study also suggest that control measures currently pplied in minimally-processed vegetables industries allow to limit Nov contamination in RTE salads.