Nipah virus and food safety: what to know and how to reduce risk
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Nipah virus is a zoonotic disease transmitted primarily from animals, especially fruit bats and infected livestock, to humans. While most outbreaks arise from animal-to-human spillover or close contact with infected people, foodborne transmission can occur in specific settings. The strongest documented risk is drinking raw date palm sap contaminated by fruit bat saliva or urine. In general, the everyday food safety risk from Nipah virus is very low, but it can increase in regions where bats, wildlife, livestock, food, and water systems intersect. Foods and drinks of concern include raw date palm sap and beverages made from it, fruit that shows signs of bites or contamination, fallen fruit, and untreated water used in food preparation. To reduce risk, consumers in affected regions should avoid raw date palm sap, boil sap before drinking, discard damaged or contaminated fruit, practice hand hygiene, and eat only thoroughly cooked or heat-treated foods. Food producers and vendors can further reduce risk by covering sap-collection sites to prevent bat access, using clean water and hygienic handling practices, separating raw and ready-to-eat foods, promoting boiling as a safe alternative, and protecting food during storage and display. A One Health approach strengthens prevention by improving wildlife–food system separation, promoting safer harvesting and market practices, ensuring access to safe water, enhancing animal health surveillance, and providing practical, targeted risk communication. These measures help reduce Nipah virus spillover while supporting food safety, livelihoods, and trade.