Norovirus Cross-Contamination during Food Handling and Interruption of Virus Transfer by Hand Antisepsis: Experiments with Feline Calicivirus as a Surrogate.

FCV was deposited onto fingerpads and allowed to air dry. The contaminated fingerpad was then pressed onto 1cm disks of ham, lettuce or metal. The virus remaining and transferred was measured. Virus transfer to clean hands from experimentally contaminated disks of ham, lettuce, and metal was also tested. Nearly 46%, 18% and 13% of virus transferred from fingerpads to ham, lettuce and metal, respectively. Approx. 6%, 14% and 7% virus transferred from ham, lettuce, and metal disks to hands. Washing of the fingerpads either with water or with both topical agent and water significantly reduced virus transfer to a 0.9%, as compared with a 2.3 and a 3.4% transfer following treatments with either 75% ethanol or a commercial hand gel containing 62% ethanol, respectively. J Food Protect 2004; 67:103-109.