title: Presence of pathogenic enteric viruses in illegally imported meat and meat products to EU by international air travelers.
abstract: One hundred twenty two meat samples confiscated from passengers on flights from non-European countries at the International Airport of Bilbao (Spain) were tested for the presence of the main foodborne viral pathogens (human noroviruses genogroups I and II, hepatitis A and E viruses) during 2012 and 2013. A sample process control virus, murine norovirus, was used to evaluate the correct performance of the method. Overall, 67 samples were positive for at least one enteric viruses, 65 being positive for hepatitis E virus (53.3%), 3 for human norovirus genogroup I (2.5%) and 1 for human norovirus genogroup II (0.8%), whereas hepatitis A virus was not detected in any sample. The type of positive meat samples was diverse, but mainly was pork meat products (64.2%). The geographical origin of the positive samples was wide and diverse; samples from 15 out 19 countries tested were positive for at least one virus. However, the estimated virus load was low, ranging from 55 to 9.0 × 10(4) PDU per gram of product. The results obtained showed the potential introduction of viral agents in travelers' luggage, which constitute a neglected route of introduction and transmission.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León, ITACyL, Valladolid, Spain; Microbiology Section, Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Faculty of Sciences, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain. Electronic address: rodlazda@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Lázaro
authors.affiliation: Food Technology Section, Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Faculty of Sciences, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diez-Valcarce
authors.affiliation: Food Technology Section, Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Faculty of Sciences, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain.
authors.forename: Rebeca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Montes-Briones
authors.affiliation: Dependencia de Sanidad de Vizcaya, Delegación del Gobierno en el País Vasco, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gallego
authors.affiliation: Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León, ITACyL, Valladolid, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernández
authors.affiliation: Food Technology Section, Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Faculty of Sciences, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain.
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rovira
mesh_terms: D059028:Airports; D000818:Animals; D005516:Food Microbiology; D008460:Meat / Q000821:virology*; D008461:Meat Products / Q000821:virology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013030:Spain; D013552:Swine; D014195:Travel; D014780:Viruses / Q000302:isolation & purification*
keywords: Food; Foodborne viruses; Hepatitis A virus; Hepatitis E virus; International flights; Murine norovirus; Neglected route of transmission; Norovirus