A recent Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) reviewed scientific developments, data, and evidence to support ongoing work to update the Codex Alimentarius General Principles of Food Hygiene to the Control of Viruses in Foods (CXG-079-2012).

Specifically, the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) requested that JEMRA provide an up-to-date review of foodborne viruses and relevant food commodities of highest public health concern, a review of the analytical methods for relevant enteric viruses in food commodities, and a review of scientific evidence on the potential utility of viral indicators or other indicators of contamination. To meet these charges, JEMRA reviewed the scientific literature on foodborne viruses published since the last JEMRA report on viruses in foods in 2008.