Viruses are gaining increasing importance as food borne vectors of disease.
Viruses make us sick by reproducing inside our cells. Viruses that cause food-borne illness enter the body through the gastrointestinal tract.
Other types of viruses may enter the body through open cuts the respiratory tract or the genital tract. Many viruses cause rapid onset, short, sharp illness and so by the time a sufferer gets round to going to their doctor the symptoms have subsided.
Many foods have been incriminated as carriers of pathogenic viruses, but shellfish have been the single most commonly incriminated vehicle. Molluscs, such as mussels and oyster, take up virus when exposed to contaminated waters.
Raw shellfish from polluted water is a major source of hepatitis.
The most likely foods to transmit viral illness are those handled frequently and those that receive no heating after handling, such as sandwiches, salads and desserts.
Viruses do not replicate in foods and therefore numbers will not increase during storage, preparation, and transportation.
Virus in food
