Norovirus transmission between hands, gloves, utensils, and fresh produce during simulated food handling

Human noroviruses (HuNoVs), a leading cause of food-borne gastroenteritis worldwide, are easily transferred via ready-to-eat (RTE) foods, often prepared by infected food handlers. In this study, the transmission of HuNoV and murine norovirus (MuNoV) from virus-contaminated hands to latex gloves during gloving, as well as from virus-contaminated donor surfaces to recipient surfaces after simulated preparation of cucumber sandwiches, was inspected. Virus transfer was investigated by swabbing with polyester swabs, followed by nucleic acid extraction from the swabs with a commercial kit and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. During gloving, transfer of MuNoV dried on the hand was observed 10/12 times. HuNoV, dried on latex gloves, was disseminated to clean pairs of gloves 10/12 times, whereas HuNoV without drying was disseminated 11/12 times. In the sandwich-preparing simulation, both viruses were transferred repeatedly to the first recipient surface (left hand, cucumber, and knife) during the preparation. Both MuNoV and HuNoV were transferred more efficiently from latex gloves to cucumbers (1.2% ± 0.6% and 1.5% ± 1.9%) than vice versa (0.7% ± 0.5% and 0.5% ± 0.4%). We estimated that transfer of at least one infective HuNoV from contaminated hands to the sandwich prepared was likely to occur if the hands of the food handler contained 3 log(10) or more HuNoVs before gloving. Virus-contaminated gloves were estimated to transfer HuNoV to the food servings more efficiently than a single contaminated cucumber during handling. Our results indicate that virus-free food ingredients and good hand hygiene are needed to prevent HuNoV contamination of RTE foods

3D-oriented fiber networks made by foam forming

In industrial applications, such as paper and nonwovens, cellulose fibers are used in the form of a network where the fibers are oriented more or less in the sheet-plane direction. However, in many biological systems, fibers are instead oriented in a three-dimensional (3D) space, creating a wide variety of functionalities. In this study we created a 3D-oriented fiber network on the laboratory scale and have identified some unique features of its structure and mechanical properties. The 3D fiber network sheets were prepared by using foam-forming as well as modifying consolidation and drying procedures. The fiber orientation and tensile/compression behavior were determined. The resulting sheets were extremely bulky (above 190 cm3/g) and had extremely low stiffness (or high softness) compared to the reference handsheets. Despite this high bulk, the sheets retained good structural integrity. We found that a 3D-oriented fiber network requires much less fiber-fiber contact to create a connected (“percolated”) network than a two-dimensionally oriented network. The compression behavior in the thickness direction was also unique, characterized by extreme compressibility because of its extreme bulk and a long initial increase in the compression load as well as high strain recovery after compression because of its fiber reorientation during compression.Publ online Nov 2015The final publication is available at Springer viahttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10570-015-0811-z</p