Listeria monocytogenes – How This Pathogen Survives in Food-Production Environments?

Abstract

The foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is the causative agent of human listeriosis, a severe disease, especially dangerous for the elderly, pregnant women, and newborns. Although this infection is comparatively rare, it is often associated with a significant mortality rate of 20–30% worldwide. Therefore, this microorganism has an important impact on food safety. L. monocytogenes can adapt, survive and even grow over a wide range of food production environmental stress conditions such as temperatures, low and high pH, high salt concentration, ultraviolet lights, presence of biocides and heavy metals. Furthermore, this bacterium is also able to form biofilm structures on a variety of surfaces in food production environments which makes it difficult to remove and allows it to persist for a long time. This increases the risk of contamination of food production facilities and finally foods. The present review focuses on the key issues related to the molecular mechanisms of the pathogen survival and adaptation to adverse environmental conditions. Knowledge and understanding of the L. monocytogenes adaptation approaches to environmental stress factors will have a significant influence on the development of new, efficient, and cost-effective methods of the pathogen control in the food industry, which is critical to ensure food production safety.

Sugar Modification of Wall Teichoic Acids Determines Serotype-Dependent Strong Biofilm Production in Listeria monocytogenes

“…Serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b, and 4b account for the majority of human listeriosis cases and food contamination ( 3 , 7 , 8 ). Biofilm production in L. monocytogenes is related to persistent food contamination and thereby human infection ( 24 , 25 ). However, studies have presented conflicting results regarding the association between biofilm formation and phylogeny and serotype ( 5 , 26 ).…”

Application of Quasimetagenomics Methods to Define Microbial Diversity and SubtypeListeria monocytogenesin Dairy and Seafood Production Facilities

“…L. monocytogenes is a frequently isolated and sometimes a persistent contaminant within food industry settings (35)(36)(37). As such, extensive efforts are made to control this pathogen throughout the food supply chain, especially in food production environments, where Listeria is commonly transferred to food products by cross contamination from surfaces in production facilities (38,39).…”

Recent Advances in the Application of Bacteriophages against Common Foodborne Pathogens

“…ListShield is a cocktail composed of six bacteriophages with high lytic activity against Listeria strains. It was shown that it significantly reduces the presence of pathogens in various types of RTE foods, with the efficiency of 82–99% [ 64 ]. Ishaq et al (2022) reported that in the case of smoked salmon, the use of ListShield completely inhibited the growth of L. monocytogenes on naturally contaminated samples as well as those infected in an in vitro experimental model.…”

“…The product showed high specificity in trials performed at different temperatures. The largest decrease in bacterial count achieved was 4.44 log CFU/mL when the inoculum count was 3 log CFU/g [ 64 ]. Importantly, Listex P100 has also been proved to be effective in reducing the biofilm structure formed by L. monocytogenes on stainless steel with a reduction of 3.5–5.4 log CFU/cm 2 compared to a control group in which no antibacterial agent was applied [ 67 ].…”