Occurrence and Distribution of Listeria Species in Facilities Producing Ready-to-Eat Foods in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

In British Columbia (BC), Canada, food processing facilities licensed under provincial authority are not required to sample for Listeria monocytogenes in food products or processing environments. In 2009, we conducted a survey of dairy, fish, and meat facilities under BC authority to estimate the prevalence of Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods and production environments. From August to October, 250 RTE food samples and 258 swabs from the food processing environments of 43 facilities were collected. Standard culture methods were applied to both food samples and swabs. Of swabs collected from all 258 environmental surfaces, 15% were positive for Listeria spp. Significantly (P, 0.001) more fish facilities than dairy and meat facilities had food contact surfaces contaminated with Listeria spp. L. monocytogenes was found in RTE foods from fish facilities alone (5 of 12); in all five of the fish facilities with contaminated product, one or more environmental swabs were also positive for L. monocytogenes. The results suggest that while control of L. monocytogenes in BC-inspected dairy and meat facilities is effective in limiting food contamination, there is a need for provincial inspectors to initiate improved monitoring and management of contamination by L. monocytogenes in RTE fish processing facilities.

Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance of Listeria monocytogenes Isolated from Ready-to-Eat Foods in Turkey

“…Our findings showed higher rate of occurrence than that reported in previous studies in Turkey. e isolation rate of L. monocytogenes strains in this study was consistent with that reported in other countries, i.e., 6.25% in Ethiopia [3], 9.5% in Italy [6], 6.1% in Northern Greece [19], 8.1% in Greece [34], 6.2% in Spain [35], 6% in Canada [36], 6.87% in China [37], and 7.5% in ailand [38]. Other studies have reported significantly higher isolation rates of L. monocytogenes in RTE foods, such as 18.2% in Jordan [4], 24.4% in Amman [5], 11.19% in Uruguay [8], 11.4% in Malaysia [39], 22.72% in Spain [40], and 32.3% in Iran [41].…”

Listeria monocytogenes-carrying consortia in food industry. Composition, subtyping and numerical characterisation of mono-species biofilm dynamics on stainless steel

“…This heterogeneity in the distribution of strains could be of a multifactorial nature and contact with manufactured product may help to maintain L. monocytogenes prevalence along food premises (Pagadala et al, 2012). Nevertheless, other authors support the hypothesis that this distribution in a given industrial environment is independent to incoming raw matter contact (Kovacevic et al, 2012). In the light of these results and due to the variation of the different surveys, it would be recommendable to establish a common procedure of surfaces sampling in food-related premises, so as to ensure the possibility to compare results between different assays.…”

Prevalence, molecular characterization, genetic heterogeneity and antimicrobial resistance ofListeria monocytogenesassociated with fish and fishery environment in Kerala, India

“…In the current study, 100% of the L. monocytogenes strains isolated from fish and retail ice harboured these virulence genes but two isolates were found negative for actA . Several investigators have reported these virulence genes associated with L. monocytogenes strains from raw fish, shrimp and cooked RTE seafood products of Canada (Kovacevic et al ), India (Das et al ), Malaysia (Jamali and Thong ) and Iran (Jamali et al ). Our findings indicate that the majority of the isolates from fish and fishery environment are virulent and can cause human listeriosis, through consumption of improperly prepared contaminated RTE food.…”