Key result
Adapted ISO 15216 protocol successfully detects HAV and HuNoV in dates at low detection limits.
Why the study?
Dates have been associated with foodborne viral outbreaks, but no standard method exists for the extraction and detection of foodborne viruses from dates.
An optimized ISO 15216 protocol can successfully extract and detect foodborne viruses like HAV and HuNoV in dates, providing a valuable tool for surveillance and outbreak management.
May support viral surveillance in dates; extends ISO 15216 validation but leaves routine adoption open.
Foodborne viruses such as human norovirus (HuNoV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) are the major causes of foodborne illnesses worldwide. These viruses have a low infectious dose and are persistent in the environment and food for weeks. Ready-to-eat (RTE) low moisture foods (LMFs) undergo minimal pathogen reduction processes. In recent years, multiple foodborne HAV outbreaks involving hundreds of individuals were associated with the consumption of dates, indicating that they could be important vehicles for foodborne infection. There is no standard method for the extraction and detection of foodborne viruses from dates, but herein we have compared the efficiency of three different protocols based on the ISO 15216 method in the extraction of murine norovirus (MNV) from whole Medjool dates and successfully employed the best performing method in the extraction of HAV, HuNoV GI, and GII and determined the limit of detection (LOD95) of 61, 148, and 184 genomic equivalent (gEq) per 25 g, respectively. Finally, we tested the adopted method on various varieties of dates including pitted ones and reported the detection of HuNoV GI and GII from four naturally contaminated date varieties. This ISO 15216 protocol could be employed for surveillance purposes and outbreak management related to dates.
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Raymond et al. (2025) studied Foodborne virus contamination in dates. ISO 15216 methodology vs. Other ISO 15216-based protocols was evaluated on Limit of detection (LOD95) of HAV, HuNoV GI, and GII. An adapted ISO 15216 protocol successfully detected HAV, HuNoV GI, and GII in dates, with limits of detection of 61, 148, and 184 genomic equivalents per 25 g, respectively.
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