Antiviral capacity of sanitizers against infectious viruses in process water from the produce industry under batch and continuous conditions

The presence of human enteric viruses in produce has extensively been reported. However, the significance of the quality of process water (PW) used by the produce industry and the viral inactivation capacity of water disinfection agents used to maintain the microbiological quality of PW has received limited attention. This study evaluates the antiviral disinfection efficacy of chlorine, chlorine dioxide (ClO2) and peracetic acid (PAA) at recommended operational limits in PW using hepatitis A virus (HAV), the cultivable norovirus surrogate, murine norovirus (MNV-1), and MS2 coliphages. Defined commodity representative crops (baby leaves, bell peppers, and the vegetable mix of tomatoes, cucum…