An FSA committee has warned of a possible link between pork products and a sharp rise in hepatitis E in the UK.

Reported cases of hepatitis E have soared by around 200% since 2010, and the FSA Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) said there was a growing body of evidence linking the virus to infected pork.

In its recent review of viruses in the food chain, the committee said there was a “high prevalence” of HEV in the European pig herd. The virus has also been found in slaughterhouses and retail pork products in the UK, although UK pig herds do not commonly carry the HEV strain linked to outbreaks.

The committee called for a structured survey of retail pork products to establish levels of HEV infection, as well as further examination of HEV infection in humans and pigs in countries that export pork to the UK.

It also urged the FSA to conduct further research on the impact of cooking and curing on the virus, warning HEV might withstand the minimum pasteurisation standard of 70C for two minutes.

The ACMSF report adds further weight to concerns over HEV in pork, which were sparked last November when a small study found one in 10 sausages was infected with the virus.

The FSA said it would respond to all the committee’s recommendations once they had been “considered in detail”.

FSA chief scientific advisor Guy Poppy said the agency was working to develop testing methods for HEV, and would commission further research on the heat stability of the virus.

A spokesman for Bpex said there was a “low risk” of hepatitis E from the UK pig herd, and the industry was investigating introducing on-farm testing. “Routine surveillance is not the norm in Europe, though it has been put forward to the EU,” he added.

Professor Richard Tedder, head of the joint NHSBT/PHE Blood Borne Virus Unit, said it was important to note only one in 200 people infected with hepatitis E became seriously ill.

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