García Benzaquén, NereaHernández, MartaSantamaría-Palacios, JorgeMartínez Alares, IreneNavarro Gómez, AlejandroMuñoz-Chimeno, MilagrosEscobar, FrancoFongaro, GislaineYeramian, NadineTrząskowska, MonikaAvellón, AnaEiros, José MaríaDomínguez Rodríguez, Lucas JoséValero, AntonioGoyache Goñi, JoaquínRodríguez-Lázaro, David2025-12-192025-12-192026García, N., Hernández, M., Santamaría-Palacios, J., Martínez, I., Navarro, A., Muñoz-Chimeno, M., Escobar, F., Fongaro, G., Yeramian, N., Trząskowska, M., Avellón, A., Eiros, J. M., Domínguez, L., Valero, A., Goyache, J., & Rodríguez-Lázaro, D. (2026). Hepatitis E virus in pigs at the moment of slaughter in Spain, 2015 and 2017. Food Microbiology, 136, 105011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2025.1050110740-002010.1016/j.fm.2025.105011https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/129492Credit authorship contribution statement Nerea García: Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. Marta Hernandez: ´ Investigation. Jorge Santamaría-Palacios: Investigation. Irene Martínez: Investiga tion. Alejandro Navarro: Conceptualization. Milagros Munoz-Chi ˜ meno: Investigation. Franco Escobar: Investigation. Gislaine Fongaro: Investigation. Nadine Yeramian: Investigation. Monika Trząskowska: Investigation. Ana Avellon: ´ Methodology, Investigation. Jose María Eiros: Investigation. Lucas Domínguez: Conceptualization, Investigation. Antonio Valero: Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis. Joaquín Goyache: Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. David Rodríguez-Lazaro: ´ Writing – review & editing, Writing – orig inal draft, Validation, Supervision, Resources, Project administration, Methodology, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis, Data curation, ConceptualizationWe investigated the presence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in pigs at the moment of slaughter in Spain in years 2015 and 2017. A total of 1786 caecal content, liver, and serum samples from animals at slaughterhouses were tested by reverse transcription real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and anti-HEV antibodies were evaluated in 623 serum samples by an ELISA test. The overall seroprevalence obtained was 70.9 %. A total of 398 RT-qPCR positive samples were identified in caecal content (26.8 %; 156/583), serum (21.8 %; 136/623) and liver (18.3 %; 106/580). A total of 32 RT-qPCR positive samples were genotyped; 3f (84.4 %) and the 3c (9.4 %) being the most prevalent subgenotypes. This is the first report on detection of HEV in pigs at the moment of slaughter with a Spain nation-wide representation. The data show a large high seroprevalence (70.9 %) in pigs, while the presence of the virus (HEV RNA) was significantly lower. HEV RNA detection varied markedly between matrices, with caecal samples showing higher positivity (30–50 %) than serum (5–25 %); both simple and interaction GEE models confirmed strong effects of sample type and its interaction with year on prevalence estimates. However, the percentage of positive liver samples (18.3 %) and the concurrence between the HEV 3 subtypes identified (3f, 3m and 3c) and those identified in human patients in Spain, underscores the possibility of foodborne zoonosis. It can represent a real risk for consumers if pork products are not cooked adequately. A holistic One-Health approach, including a better understanding of HEV prevalence in the swine population, would allow implementation of control measures in the meat chain to mitigate the main transmission routes for humans.engAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/journal article1095-9998https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2025.105011open access636.09EpidemiologyFood safetyHepatitis EHepatitis E virusPigsSlaughterhouseSpainVeterinaria3109 Ciencias Veterinarias