Public health officials are increasingly able to attribute illnesses to food sources, thanks in part to enhanced public health surveillance systems and improved clinical diagnostic methods. This includes "non-cultivable" foodborne pathogens, such as hepatitis A virus (HAV), human norovirus (hNoV), and Cyclospora cayetanensis.
With greater awareness and improved detection tools comes the expectation that the food industry will rise to the challenge and implement controls to address these recently emerged public health concerns. This article describes some of the inherent challenges faced by food system stakeholders in managing non-cultivable foodborne pathogens, with special focus on the methodological limitations that complicate the interpretation of test results obtained from food or environmental sources.