Hepatitis E and Food Safety

Hepatitis E is a virus that infects the liver and can be spread through food, most often undercooked pork, wild game, offal such as liver, and shellfish. The most reliable control in a food business is thorough cooking: bring these foods to 75°C in the thickest part. Good hand hygiene, clean water and separating raw and ready-to-eat foods reduce the risk further. Key takeaways: Hepatitis E is a liver virus that can be carried in food, especially undercooked pork, wild game, offal such as pig liver, and raw or lightly cooked shellfish.. Thorough cooking is the primary control: cook these higher-risk foods to 75°C in the thickest part, and reheat to the same core temperature.. Filter-feeding shellfish such as oysters and mussels can concentrate the virus from contaminated water, so their source and handling matter.. Hand hygiene, clean water and separating raw meat from ready-to-eat foods all reduce the chance of the virus reaching a customer.. Most healthy people recover, but pregnant women and people with weakened immunity or existing liver disease can become seriously ill, so prevention is worth the effort.. What hepatitis E is and why it matters in food Hepatitis E is an infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis E virus (HEV). It is one of several foodborne viruses a kitchen needs to think about, alongside norovirus and hepatitis A. What makes hepatitis E distinctive is its strong link to animals: certain strains circulate in pigs, wild boar, deer and other animals, and people can be infected by eating meat or offal from these animals when it has not been cooked thoroughly. For most healthy adults, hepatitis E causes a self-limiting illness — tiredness, nausea, loss of appetite, abdominal discomfort and sometimes jaundice — that resolves over several weeks. The reason food businesses take it seriously is that the outcome is not the same for everyone. Pregnant women, people with existing liver disease and those with weakened immune systems can develop severe illness. Because you cannot know the health status of every customer, the safe assumption is that any meal you serve could reach a vulnerable person. Hepatitis E is a hazard you control through the same disciplines that manage bacteria: cooking, hygiene, clean water and separation. You do not need to treat it as an exotic threat — you need to apply solid food-handling practice consistently to the foods most likely to carry it. How the virus reaches food There are two main routes by which hepatitis E gets into food. The first is through the meat and offal of infected animals, particularly pigs. Pork products, wild game and organ meats — pig liver especially — can carry the virus, and if they are eaten raw or only lightly cooked, the virus can survive and infect the person eating them. Products made from raw liver, such as some pâtés and sausages, have been associated with this route overseas. The second route is contaminated water reaching food. Shellfish such as oysters, mussels and pipis are filter feeders: they draw large volumes of water through their bodies and can concentrate viruses present in that water. If the growing water is contaminated, the shellfish can carry the virus, and because these foods are often eaten raw or barely cooked, there is no cooking step to destroy it. Water can also contaminate fresh produce through irrigation or washing. The virus is shed in faeces, so poor hand hygiene by an infected food handler is a further, though less common, pathway for the animal-independent strains. This is the same faecal-oral route that drives other foodborne viruses, and the same hand-washing controls apply. Cooking: the control that does the heavy lifting Heat is the most dependable defence against hepatitis E. Cooking higher-risk foods thoroughly destroys the virus, which is why cook temperature is the single most important thing to get right for pork, game, offal and any shellfish you intend to serve hot. Aim for a core temperature of 75°C in the thickest part of the food, and use a clean, calibrated probe thermometer to confirm it rather than judging by colour alone. Offal deserves particular attention. Pig liver is one of the foods most consistently linked to hepatitis E, and dishes that leave liver pink in the middle — or preparations built on raw liver — carry higher risk. If you serve liver, cook it right through to 75°C. The same applies to sausages, mince and rolled or stuffed cuts, where surface contamination can end up in the centre and slow cooking allows survival. Reheating follows the same rule. When you reheat a pork or game dish, bring it back to 75°C in the core, not merely warm to the touch. Steam and simmer temperatures used properly will achieve this; gentle holding will not. Cooking is effective precisely because it is a definite, measurable step — so measure it. Shellfish: source and handling Shellfish are a special case because the usual kitchen control, cooking, is often bypassed. Oysters, mussels and similar bivalves are frequently served raw or very lightly cooked, and because they concentrate whatever is in their growing water, the safety of the product is decided largely before it reaches you. That makes sourcing critical. Buy shellfish from reputable, approved suppliers who can demonstrate the product comes from monitored growing waters, and keep the supplier documentation and batch details so you can trace any batch if a problem arises. Under the traceability and receiving expectations in the Food Standards Code, being able to identify where food came from and where it went is part of running a compliant business. Keep shellfish cold throughout — at or below 5°C — and never let it sit in the 5°C to 60°C danger zone. If you cook shellfish, cook it properly: heat destroys the virus, so thorough cooking is far safer than the brief steaming that only opens the shell. Where you serve raw shellfish, you are relying entirely on the source and the cold chain, so both must be beyond doubt. If either is uncertain, cook the product or do not serve it. Hygiene, water and separation Because hepatitis E spreads by the faecal-oral route, hand hygiene is a genuine control, not just good manners. Food handlers should wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water and dry them with single-use towel after using the toilet, after handling raw meat or offal, and before handling ready-to-eat food. A staff member with gastrointestinal illness or jaundice should not handle food until well clear of symptoms, in line with your venue's illness-reporting practice. Clean water underpins everything. Use potable water for washing produce, making ice and cleaning equipment. If produce may have been irrigated or rinsed with water of uncertain quality upstream, washing in clean water and, where practical, cooking add protection. Contaminated water is a realistic route for this virus, so do not treat water quality as a given. Separation prevents the virus in raw meat and offal from reaching foods that will not be cooked again. Keep raw pork, game and offal apart from ready-to-eat foods, store raw items below and away from ready-to-eat foods so nothing drips down, and clean then sanitise boards, knives and surfaces between raw and ready-to-eat tasks. These practices sit within the food handling and hygiene requirements of Standard 3.2.2, with the food-safety-management approach of Standard 3.2.2A applying to many businesses; how they are supervised can vary by state and territory, so confirm the specifics with your local council or state regulator. Who is most at risk, and why prevention pays off Most people who catch hepatitis E recover fully without specific treatment. The value of prevention lies in protecting the minority for whom it is dangerous. Pregnant women can experience severe, sometimes life-threatening illness. People with pre-existing liver disease may deteriorate. Those with weakened immune systems — including some transplant recipients and people on immune-suppressing medication — can develop a persistent infection rather than shaking it off. In a food business you cannot screen your customers, so the practical response is to hold every higher-risk food to a standard that would protect a vulnerable person. That means cooking pork, game and offal right through, sourcing shellfish carefully, and keeping hygiene and separation tight regardless of who you think is eating. None of this requires special equipment beyond a working probe thermometer and a disciplined routine. The controls that manage hepatitis E — thorough cooking, clean hands, clean water, careful sourcing and separation — are the same controls that manage bacteria and other foodborne viruses, so the effort protects your customers on several fronts at once. Checklist: Pork, wild game, mince, sausages and offal are cooked to 75°C in the thickest part, confirmed by probe. Pig liver and liver dishes are cooked right through, never left pink. Shellfish is bought from approved suppliers with documentation showing monitored growing waters. Shellfish and other cold foods are held at or below 5°C throughout. Raw meat and offal are stored below and away from ready-to-eat foods. Boards, knives and surfaces are cleaned then sanitised between raw and ready-to-eat tasks. Hands are washed and dried after the toilet, after raw meat, and before ready-to-eat food. Only potable water is used for washing produce, making ice and cleaning. Staff with gastrointestinal illness or jaundice are kept away from food handling. Common mistakes: Serving pork, sausages or mince still pink in the centre instead of cooking to 75°C in the thickest part. Leaving pig liver and liver-based dishes undercooked, when offal is one of the highest-risk foods for this virus. Judging doneness by colour or feel instead of confirming core temperature with a calibrated probe. Sourcing raw oysters or mussels without supplier documentation showing they came from monitored waters. Reheating pork or game dishes until only warm rather than back to 75°C in the core. Letting raw meat or offal juices drip onto ready-to-eat foods in the fridge. Allowing a food handler with gastrointestinal illness or jaundice to keep handling food.