Fostering the antiviral activity of green tea extract for sanitizing purposes through controlled storage conditions

Food-contact surfaces is considered an important vehicle for the indirect transmission of foodborne viral diseases with enteric viruses, especially human norovirus (HuNoV) and hepatitis A virus (HAV). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antiviral activity of green tea extract (GTE) at room temperature as a function of pH and storage time and to relate it with changes in composition as a consequence of degradation and epimerization reactions in the storage conditions. The obtained results revealed that freshly prepared GTE was very effective in inactivating murine norovirus (MNV) and HAV at neutral and alkaline pH but was ineffective at pH 5.5. Additionally, storage of the solutions for 24 h at various pH conditions significantly increased their antiviral activity. The reduction in MNV and HAV infectivity was related to the formation of catechin derivatives during storage, as demonstrated by HPLC/MS analysis. In addition, the GTE prepared under the optimal conditions (24 h storage and pH 7.2) was applied at a concentration of 5 mg/mL for only 15 min on stainless steel and glass surfaces for sanitizing purposes, showing a reduction of more than 1.5 log of MNV and HAV infectivity. These findings indicate that GTE can be used as a natural disinfectant for decontamination of food contact surfaces, thus preventing the indirect transfer of enteric viruses to food or persons.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Falcó, Irene, Randazzo, Walter, Gómez-Mascaraque, Laura G., Aznar, Rosa, López-Rubio, Amparo, Sánchez Moragas, Gloria
Other Authors: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
Format: artículo biblioteca
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2017-09-01
Subjects:Enteric viruses, Natural compounds, Food-contact surfaces,
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/156826
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003329
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007652
http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
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