(Reviewed April 2020)
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and the Ministry for Primary Industries have developed the following guidance for the inactivation of hepatitis A virus in berry fruits.
MPI and FSANZ recommend cooking food to 85°C for 1 minute to inactivate hepatitis A virus but recognise that the extent of virus inactivation is influenced by the food matrix.
Should alternative, generally lower, processing temperatures be required, this report presents guidelines on temperature/time equivalents for the inactivation of hepatitis A virus based on available experimental data and according to the product characteristics (e.g. pH and sugar content).
In the absence of data for all berry types, manufacturers should apply the temperature/time equivalent guidelines closely corresponding to the characteristics (e.g. pH and sugar content) of their products.
The D-values and temperature/time equivalents described in this document are guidelines only. Manufacturers should conduct a proper risk assessment, and where appropriate, validation studies, taking into consideration the likely types and levels of microbial hazards present in their raw materials, characteristics of their own products in terms of effect on the hazards, and the treatment parameters required to inactivate any hazards that are reasonably likely to occur.