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Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a singlestrand RNA virus that causes an acute viral hepatitis in humans. Among its eight recognized genotypes, HEV-3 and HEV-4 are zoonotic, infecting humans, pigs and wild boars. Recently, HEV-3 has been also detected in red deer, which represents another reservoir of HEV. Consumption of raw pork products (mainly liver sausages), undercooked wild boar meat, raw wild boar liver and deer meat has been responsible for foodborne HEV human worldwide. From November 2018 to March 2019, liver samples collected from 97 wild boars hunted in Emilia-Romagna region (Northern Italy) were tested for HEV RNA. The hunting area included two territories for an extension of 33 km 2 , named A (about 13 km 2 ,natural park, deciduous wood) and B (about 20 km 2 , cultivated fields in proximity of a river) areas. Distance between the two areas ranged between 8 to 10 km. A total of 73 wild boars were hunted in area A, and 24 in area B. HEV RNA was detected by Real-time RT- PCR in 23/73 liver samples of wild boars living in area A only (31.5% - 95% CI: 22.0-42.8%). The HEV sequences (n=13) clustered within genotype 3. The majority of positives belonged to animals < 12 months (12/25; 48%), followed by subadults (13-24 months) (7/16; 43.8%) and adults (4/32; 12.5%). This difference was found to be statistically significant (p=0.0024). In absence of pig farms, the restriction of HEV-positive animals to a well-defined territory of 13 km 2 (Boschi di Carrega Regional Park) could hypothetically be related to the presence of red deer ( Cervus elaphus ), which lived in area A at the beginning of the hunting season. Further studies are needed to confirm or deny our hypothesis., Competing Interests: Conflict of interests: The authors declare no potential conflict of interests., (©Copyright: the Author(s).)

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important public health concern in many developing countries and it occurs in sporadic forms in industrialized areas. With the discovery of swine HEV in pigs, which is genetically closely related to human HEV, hepatitis E is considered to be a zoonotic disease. To investigate the circulation of HEV within a distinct area of Lombardy region (Northern Italy), 17 pig farms were subjected to monitoring study by collection of fresh stool samples each represented by ground-pooled specimens. In particular, three distinct types of breeding farms were focused, represented by farrow to weaning, farrow to finish and fattening farms, respectively. Epidemiological data confirm that in Europe the seroprevalence in pigs, more than 9 month of age, ranges from 51.4 to 75%, while in 3-9 months fatteners is about 38%. In France and Italy, the positivity among farms is respectively 30 and 97.4% and the seroprevalence in Italy is 50.2%. Since HEV viremia was typically observed in the early period of life in swine, faeces were collected in boxes containing weaning pigs. For the study, 183 stool samples were collected and amplifications were performed with universal primers specific for the ORF2 region of genome. Twentyeight samples resulted positive to HEV RNA and genotyping demonstrated that they were closely related to HEV strains belonging to genotype 3 and circulating in Europe. Comparison with reference strains from GenBank excluded their similarity to genotype 1, 2 or 4 confirming that genotype 3 strains are circulating in Europe. Since it was demonstrated that swine act as a reservoir for HEV, and since many strains into HEV genotype 3 share a strong molecular similarity to human HEV, it was important to detect the presence of HEV in a restricted area with a very high density of pigs.

In order to simulate a contamination at the processing plant, one batch of freshly-processed salami batter (20 kg) was inoculated (1% v:w) with 5 log colony forming unit (CFU)/g of a multi-strain cocktail of two strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (registered and wild strain). Another batch was inoculated (1% v:w) with sterile physiological saline solution and used to check the lactic acid bacteria (Lab) behaviour and the changes of physicochemical parameters (pH and a w ). Both batches were then processed to obtain a semi-dry salami (Hungarian-style): microbiological and physico-chemical properties were monitored during 94 days of ripening. During the manufacturing process, the levels of pathogen decreased of about 2.18 log CFU/g with respect to the initial inoculated levels. The behaviour of the indigenous bacteria such as Lab and the physico-chemical properties can help to determine the fate of pathogens throughout processing., Competing Interests: the authors declare no potential conflict of interests.

In the last years, consequently to EC Regulation no. 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods, some Italian food businnes operators (FBOs) leaders in the meat sector, invested in research to develop innovative products such as low fat salami, containing up to 30% less fat than the traditional one. For FBOs it is essential to demonstrate for each production process whether the substrate allows the growth of L. monocytogenes and whether L. monocytogenes could reach or exceed the limit of 100 cfu g -1 at the end of the shelf life, as stated by EC Regulation no. 2073/2005. In the present study, the growth potential of L. monocytogenes during the shelf life of low fat salami packed in modified atmosphere was evaluated. The results show that the product is unable to support the growth of pathogen, even if the storage temperature is between 8 and 12°C., Competing Interests: the authors declare no potential conflict of interests.