Hepatitis E virus found in pork products from Belgian supermarkets
What it found
Viral genetic material was found in 31% of ready-to-eat pork products bought from three Belgian supermarkets.
Pork liver pâté had the highest rate, with 65% testing positive.
What they found
Virus in pork products
Out of 54 ready-to-eat pork products tested, 17 (31%) contained hepatitis E viral genetic material. This included 65% of pork liver pâtés and 15% of raw dried hams. None of the 18 raw dried sausages tested positive.
Exposure estimates by product
Products eaten without cooking that were not heated during production, like raw dried sausages, scored highest for estimated contamination. However, heated ready-to-eat products like pork liver pâté gave the highest overall consumer exposure estimates when Belgian eating habits were included.
Link to human illness
Four viral samples taken from pork liver pâté belonged to genotype 3c. Their genetic sequences matched those from sick people in Belgium and Germany by 97% to 98.4%.
Product data collected
The researchers gathered information on 594 pork or wild boar products from a supermarket, nine artisanal butchers, seven industrial companies and recipe books. Only seven products contained wild boar meat. About 9.6% contained pig blood and 8% contained pig liver.
What the authors conclude
- They advise people with weakened immune systems, such as organ transplant recipients, to avoid pork liver products that are eaten without further cooking.
- Their assessments show that ready-to-eat pork products carry a high chance of containing hepatitis E virus genetic material.
- They note that current lab methods cannot tell whether the detected viral material comes from live virus that could make someone ill.
How it was done
Hepatitis E virus genotype 3 is the main cause of acute viral hepatitis in Europe and is mostly linked to eating contaminated pork. Scientists wanted to measure how much of this virus is present in Belgian pork products and estimate consumer exposure.
The researchers collected data on 594 pork and wild boar products sold in Belgium to estimate contamination levels and consumer exposure. They then bought 54 ready-to-eat pork products from three supermarkets and tested them for viral genetic material. They also compared four viral samples from the food to strains found in sick people.
What it can’t tell you
- Finding viral genetic material does not prove the virus is still active or able to cause illness.
- These risk estimates use a worst-case scenario and likely overestimate the actual chance of infection.
- Testing only 54 products from three supermarkets means the results may not reflect all pork sold in Belgium.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- Declaration of competing interest All authors disclose no commercial associations that might create a conflict of interest in connection with this study.
- Authors work at
- Flemish Research Institute for Agriculture, Belgium; University of Antwerp, Belgium
The paper
- Title
- Hepatitis E virus in pork meat products and exposure assessment in Belgium
- Type
- Study
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Locus T, Lambrecht E, Peeters M, et al (2023). Hepatitis E virus in pork meat products and exposure assessment in Belgium. International journal of food microbiology. doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2023.110198Free full textPubMed 37086528DOI
Summary written 1 Oct 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error