IQF Pomegranate Seeds and Hepatitis A Virus

Hepatitis A Virus Outbreak

A recent outbreak linked to mixed red fruits (including pomegranate seeds) recently made the News worldwide(http://ceeram.blogspot.fr/2013/06/hepatitis-79-people-sickened-8-states.html)

Pomegranate Seeds

The CDC (Centre for Disease Control) in the USA recently indicated :
- "But it was the pomegranate seeds from Turkey that caused the outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control" (http://ceeram.blogspot.fr/2013/06/hepatitis-outbreak-linked-to-oregon.html)

HACCP & Foodborne Viruses

On the regulatory aspect, pathogenic viruses are included into the Hygiene Package, hence controling the viral risk in Food Industries can only be done through a HACCP global approach (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points).

Exhaustive check off must be done for :

• potential ways of contamination,
• factors enabling persistence of viruses in the production environment,
• virus-product contacts (nature & origin of raw material as well as packing materials),
• risks associated with the environment (irrigation water quality, untreated biological manure ...),
• human factors,
• cleansing treatments ...

Following this report, adapted measures for controling identified risks must be put into place, to guarantee optimized safety of the products marketed as respect to viral risk (Cf. CE 2073/2005). These measures should enable to drastically lower the number of viral food poisoning. (http://www.ceeram.com/food-poisoning-virus.html)

Hepatitis A Virus and Fruit Analysis

Ceeram and its network of laboratories are offering a range of analyses to detect and identify foodborne viruses in Fruits, including Pomegranate Seeds or Pomegrate Arils. (http://www.ceeram.com/enteric-virus-laboratory.html)