Impact of chlorine dioxide and electron-beam irradiation for the reduction of murine norovirus in low-salted jogaejeotgal, a traditional Korean salted and fermented clam

Clam jeotgal, called jogaejeotgal, is a Korean fermented seafood product with, generally, a high amount of added salt to inhibit the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) and sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) against murine norovirus 1 (MNV-1), a surrogate for human norovirus, in salt-fermented clam, jogaejeotgal. The sequential effect of ClO2 and electron-beam (e-beam) irradiation on the inactivation of MNV-1 was also investigated. Treatments of up to 300 ppm ClO2 and 1000 ppm NaOCl were used to determine the disinfectant concentrations at which more than 1 log (90%) MNV-1 inactivation occurred. The sequential treatment of ClO2 (50-300 ppm) and e-beam (1-5.5 kGy) was performed after storage at 4 degrees C for 7 days. There was a 1.9-log reduction of the virus in seasoned clams irradiated at 5.5 kGy after ClO2 treatment at 300 ppm. No significant change (p > 0.05) in physicochemical quality was observed after the combined treatment, suggesting the potential for the use of a combined treatment using ClO2 (300 ppm) and ebeam (5.5 kGy) in the jeotgal manufacturing industry for the reduction of norovirus.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the efficacy of ClO2 and NaOCl against MNV-1 in salt-fermented clam, finding that a combined treatment of 300 ppm ClO2 and 5.5 kGy e-beam effectively reduced the virus without affecting quality.