To inform updates to the Codex Alimentarius General Principles of Food Hygiene to the Control of Viruses in Foods, the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) convened for a second time to discuss the most recent literature on prevention and intervention measures for foodborne viruses. The meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland from February 12–16, 2024.

The first expert meeting on the topic of food hygiene for controlling foodborne viruses identified the most relevant foodborne viruses and food commodities of concern, while the second, most recent meeting focused on the virus-commodity pairs identified in the first meeting and their associated contamination routes. In the second meeting, the expert committee reviewed the scientific literature published since the 2008 JEMRA report on foodborne viruses to understand developments that have been made in the control of foodborne viruses for the selected food commodities: shellfish, fresh and frozen produce, prepared and ready-to-eat (RTE) foods, and pork and wild game meat.