Factors that contribute to persistent Listeria in food processing facilities and relevant interventions: A rapid review

Belias, Alexandra; Sullivan, Genevieve; Wiedmann, Martin; Ivanek, Renata

doi:10.1016/j.foodcont.2021.108579

Cited by 37 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Previous studies show that the most common sites contaminated with persistent Listeria were floors, drains, conveyor belts, slicers, and tables (7). Factories and typical niches where persistent L. monocytogenes strains were found are summarized in Table 3, showing that these were largely consistent with previous studies, although isolation of persistent strains on conveyors was only observed in salmon processing plants.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, from an ecological viewpoint, they obviously belonged to a house strain established in a difficult to clean niche (5, 6). Another challenge with operational definitions of persistence is that strains without any specific adaptive features responsible for increased survival in processing environments may survive there under permissive conditions, e.g., in a period with higher temperatures or inadequate cleaning and sanitation, or alternatively, reoccurrence can be due to repeated introduction from an outside reservoir (7, 46). Therefore, even when using a sampling method targeted towards house strains, including sampling after cleaning and disinfection and detection of reoccurrence over a longer time-period, the obtained isolates may not carry specific genetic determinants for survival in the factory environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a consensus that certain L. monocytogenes strains are more frequently isolated from food processing factories because of their increased ability to survive and multiply in niches that are difficult to keep clean (2, 7, 28, 46). However, there is no consensus on the operational definition of a persistent strain in terms of the number of independent isolation events or the time-frame (7, 28). Furthermore, the level of genetic relatedness required to delineate a persistent clone is defined by the resolution of the employed molecular subtyping technique, and with increased sensitivity of subtyping methods, the criteria for defining persistent clones have to be reconsidered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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PervasiveListeria monocytogenesare common in the Norwegian food system and associated with increased prevalence of stress survival and resistance determinants

Fagerlund

Wagner

Møretrø

et al. 2022

Preprint

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To investigate the diversity, distribution, persistence, and stress resistome of Listeria monocytogenes clones dominating in food processing environments in Norway, genome sequences from 769 L. monocytogenes isolates from food industry environments, foods, and raw materials (of which 512 were sequenced in the present study) were subjected to wgMLST, SNP, and comparative genomic analyses. The dataset comprised isolates from nine meat and six salmon processing facilities in Norway collected over a period of three decades. The most prevalent clonal complex (CC) was CC121, found in ten factories, followed by CC7, CC8, and CC9, found in seven factories each. Overall, 72% of the isolates were classified as persistent, showing 20 or fewer wgMLST allelic differences towards an isolate found in the same factory in a different calendar year. Moreover, over half of the isolates (56%) showed this level of genetic similarity towards an isolate collected from a different food processing facility. These were designated as pervasive strains, defined as clusters with the same level of genetic similarity as persistent strains but isolated from different factories. The prevalence of genetic determinants associated with increased survival in food processing environments, including heavy metal and biocide resistance determinants, stress response genes and inlA truncation mutations, showed a highly significant increase among pervasive isolates, but not among persistent isolates. Furthermore, these genes were significantly more prevalent among the isolates from food processing environments compared to in isolates from natural and rural environments (n=218) and clinical isolates (n=111) from Norway.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

PervasiveListeria monocytogenesare common in the Norwegian food system and associated with increased prevalence of stress survival and resistance determinants

Fagerlund

Wagner

Møretrø

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…The prevalence of L. monocytogenes in a food production environment depends on several factors, including the type of food, processing method, incoming raw material, the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitation protocols, the sanitary design of equipment and facilities, and employee training [ 18 , 19 ]. Many studies have demonstrated that some strains of L. monocytogenes , once entered into the food production environment, are not completely inactivated by cleaning and sanitation processes and persist for months or years in that environment [ 20 , 21 ]. Studies have used different molecular subtyping methods such as amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and whole genome sequence (WGS) to find persistent strains that are repeatedly isolated from a food production environment over a period of time [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ], and some of these studies are summarized in Table 1 .…”

Section: L Monocytogenes In Food Production Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel Approaches to Environmental Monitoring and Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Food Production Facilities

Gupta

Adhikari

2022

Foods

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Listeria monocytogenes is a serious public health hazard responsible for the foodborne illness listeriosis. L. monocytogenes is ubiquitous in nature and can become established in food production facilities, resulting in the contamination of a variety of food products, especially ready-to-eat foods. Effective and risk-based environmental monitoring programs and control strategies are essential to eliminate L. monocytogenes in food production environments. Key elements of the environmental monitoring program include (i) identifying the sources and prevalence of L. monocytogenes in the production environment, (ii) verifying the effectiveness of control measures to eliminate L. monocytogenes, and (iii) identifying the areas and activities to improve control. The design and implementation of the environmental monitoring program are complex, and several different approaches have emerged for sampling and detecting Listeria monocytogenes in food facilities. Traditional detection methods involve culture methods, followed by confirmation methods based on phenotypic, biochemical, and immunological characterization. These methods are laborious and time-consuming as they require at least 2 to 3 days to obtain results. Consequently, several novel detection approaches are gaining importance due to their rapidness, sensitivity, specificity, and high throughput. This paper comprehensively reviews environmental monitoring programs and novel approaches for detection based on molecular methods, immunological methods, biosensors, spectroscopic methods, microfluidic systems, and phage-based methods. Consumers have now become more interested in buying food products that are minimally processed, free of additives, shelf-stable, and have a better nutritional and sensory value. As a result, several novel control strategies have received much attention for their less adverse impact on the organoleptic properties of food and improved consumer acceptability. This paper reviews recent developments in control strategies by categorizing them into thermal, non-thermal, biocontrol, natural, and chemical methods, emphasizing the hurdle concept that involves a combination of different strategies to show synergistic impact to control L. monocytogenes in food production environments.

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“…Listeria monocytogenes can to adhere to biofilms on industrial surfaces, especially where water and organic residues accumulate, being more difficult to eradicate and therefore to control [ 8 ]. Many produce outbreaks and recalls due to L. monocytogenes are traced back to the processing environment [ 9 ]. The ability of L. monocytogenes to grow and spread at low temperature conditions and its tolerance to stress conditions such as pH and salinity not only contributes to its ubiquitous nature but also to its persistence in food processing environments and high risk of cross-contamination [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frozen Vegetable Processing Plants Can Harbour Diverse Listeria monocytogenes Populations: Identification of Critical Operations by WGS

Truchado

Gil

Querido-Ferreira

et al. 2022

Foods

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Frozen vegetables have emerged as a concern due to their association with foodborne outbreaks such as the multi-country outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes serogroup IVb linked to frozen corn. The capacity of L. monocytogenes to colonize food-processing environments is well-known, making the bacteria a real problem for consumers. However, the significance of the processing environment in the contamination of frozen foods is not well established. This study aimed to identify potential contamination niches of L. monocytogenes in a frozen processing plant and characterize the recovered isolates. A frozen vegetable processing plant was monitored before cleaning activities. A total of 78 points were sampled, including frozen vegetables. Environmental samples belonged to food-contact surfaces (FCS); and non-food-contact surfaces (n-FCS). Positive L. monocytogenes samples were found in FCS (n = 4), n-FCS (n = 9), and the final product (n = 1). A whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis revealed two clusters belonging to serotypes 1/2a-3a and 1/2b-3b). The genetic characterization revealed the presence of four different sequence types previously detected in the food industry. The isolate obtained from the final product was the same as one isolate found in n-FCS. A multi-virulence-locus sequence typing (MVLST) analysis showed four different virulence types (VT). The results obtained highlight the relevant role that n-FCS such as floors and drains can play in spreading L. monocytogenes contamination to the final product.

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Factors that contribute to persistent Listeria in food processing facilities and relevant interventions: A rapid review

Cited by 37 publications

References 58 publications

PervasiveListeria monocytogenesare common in the Norwegian food system and associated with increased prevalence of stress survival and resistance determinants

PervasiveListeria monocytogenesare common in the Norwegian food system and associated with increased prevalence of stress survival and resistance determinants

Novel Approaches to Environmental Monitoring and Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Food Production Facilities

Frozen Vegetable Processing Plants Can Harbour Diverse Listeria monocytogenes Populations: Identification of Critical Operations by WGS

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