Publication
Title
Development of methods for detection of infectious hepatitis E virus in pork meat products and optimization of processing practices to reduce infectivity
Author
Locus, Tatjana
Abstract
Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) poses a significant public health risk in Europe, particularly through the consumption of contaminated pork products. With increasing concern about foodborne transmission, understanding the persistence of HEV in meat products is crucial for improving food safety and preventing infections. This thesis investigates HEV in a Belgian context, with the primary aim of enhancing knowledge of HEV survival in pork meat products. The first part of the study involved conducting risk analyses to identify which pork products present the highest risk of HEV infection for consumers. The findings revealed that ready-to-eat pork products carry the greatest theoretical risk, leading to the sampling and testing of these products from Belgian supermarkets for the presence of HEV RNA. HEV RNA was detected in 65% of the tested samples, particularly in pork liver pâtés, confirming the presence of HEV in pork products available for sale. The second part of the project focused on developing and refining methods to detect HEV in meat products. Existing detection methods are labor-intensive, not standardized, and often fail to extract intact viral particles. The goal was to 1) optimize a cell culture model for directly assessing infectivity and 2) develop proxy methods for evaluating HEV infectivity indirectly by assessing the intactness of viral particles. Afterwards we optimized an extraction method that successfully retrieved intact and infectious HEV from pork products, enabling differentiation between infectious and inactivated HEV—a capability lacking in current RT-qPCR methods. In the final part of this project, the optimized methods were used to assess the impact of common meat processing techniques on HEV infectivity. Pork liver pâtés were made to evaluate the effects of heat treatment, showing that HEV is remarkably heat-stable, requiring temperatures up to 99C for complete inactivation (>3.5 log reduction). Similarly, dried pork sausages were used to study the effects of drying and pH reduction, revealing that HEV remains stable for up to 14 days, with pH reduction having very limited effect on inactivation. These findings indicate that current meat processing techniques may be inadequate for fully inactivating HEV, leaving residual infectious virus in pork products available for sale. This underscores the potential risk of foodborne HEV infection from consuming these products. In summary, this project provided the first comprehensive demonstration of HEV presence in Belgian meat products, alongside the development and optimization of methods for detecting infectious HEV. Additionally, the study assessed the effects of thermal processing, pH reduction, and drying on HEV survival, offering valuable insights into the persistence of the virus during meat processing and emphasizing the need for improved food safety practices.
Language
English
Publication
Antwerp : University of Antwerp, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences , 2025
DOI
10.63028/10067/2136120151162165141
Volume/pages
292 p.
Note
Supervisor: Vanwolleghem, Thomas [Supervisor]
Supervisor: Gucht, Van, Steven [Supervisor]
Supervisor: Lambrecht, Ellen [Supervisor]
Supervisor: Peeters, Michael [Supervisor]
Full text (open access)
The publisher created published version Available from 13.05.2027
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences 
Research group
Project info
Development of methods for detection of infectious hepatitis E in pork meat products and optimization of processing practices to reduce infectivity.
Publication type
Doctoral thesis 
Subject
Human medicine 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Record
Identifier c:irua:213612
Creation 23.04.2025
Last edited 15.05.2025
To cite this reference
https://hdl.handle.net/10067/2136120151162165141