Investigation of Norovirus Occurrence and Influence of Environmental Factors in Food Service Institutions of ChungCheong Area
The purpose of this study was to examine the appearance of norovirus in the water for food in food service institutions and the influence of physicochemical and microbial factors of norovirus in order to work out basic data to predict the detection of norovirus. Among 82 samples of water for food in food service institutions, norovirus appeared in 7 samples and the rate of appearance was 8.5%. As for the type of norovirus, one samples contained GI type (genotype GI-6) and six samples contained GII type (genotype GII-2, GII-4, GII-12). In the regression model of prediction of norovirus, the rate of appearance was correlated with NH₃-N, total solids and the consumption of KMnO₄, out of such variables as NH₃-N, total solids, the consumption of KMnO4, depth, chloride and total colony counts, and its contribution rate for effectiveness was 78.60%. In order to examine the influential factor of environment upon the detection of norovirus, Pearson's correlation analysis was carried out. The predictable regression formula for appearance rate of norovirus was expressed as -1.818 + 42.677 [NH₃-N] + 0.023 [total solids] + 0.762[consumption of KMnO₄] -0.009 [depth] -0.146 [chloride] + 0.007 [total colony counts] (R = 0.904, R² = 0.818,adjusted R² = 0.786, p < 0.05). The most influential factors upon the detection of norovirus were NH₃-N, total solids and the consumption of KMnO₄. In other words, when the measured values of NH₃-N, total solids and the consumption of KMnO₄ were higher, the possibility of appearance of norovirus increased.