A major new £800,000 collaborative research project is underway, which seeks to investigate the effectiveness of existing methods for inactivating Norovirus in food.

The project is timely, coming as the UK suffers a virtual epidemic of illness associated with Norovirus - also known as the winter vomiting disease - with almost double the number of cases reported for the same period last year. It is the most common cause of infectious gastroenteritis in England and Wales. Norovirus is also often associated with food poisoning from shellfish and, while not long-lasting, the symptoms can be particularly unpleasant, with violent sickness and diarrhoea.

The Link project involves Leatherhood Food International (LFI) together with researchers from the University of Surrey, the Health Protection Agency and various industrial partners. It is being part-funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

It is a particularly problematic research area as the virus cannot be grown in culture outside of its human host, making scientific investigation difficult. However, researchers hope to develop new approaches for measuring the inactivation of the virus without growing it in culture.

The project is expected to reveal new data on the stability of Norovirus, determine the effectiveness of current control measures, and result in a rapid test for monitoring its presence.

Industrial partners include Unilever, Evans Vanodine, Atlas Genetics, McDonald’s Restaurants, Waitrose, Carnival, the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group, Vitacress Salads and Premier Foods.