Transmission of Listeria monocytogenes from raw chicken meat to cooked chicken meat through cutting boards

Abstract

Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is a food-borne pathogen contaminating poultry products. Ready-to-eat (RTE) cooked chicken meat can easily be contaminated with L. monocytogenes in post-processing activities. This study aimed to determine transmission of L. monocytogenes from raw chicken meat to hot and cooled chicken meat through polyethylene and wooden cutting boards. Raw chicken breast samples were purchased from retail markets and were artificially contaminated with L. monocytogenes at concentration of 7.35 ± 0.22 log CFU/ml. Contaminated raw samples were placed on polyethylene and wooden cutting boards to simulate bacterial transfer to cutting boards. Cooked chicken samples (hot and cooled) were then placed on the same cutting boards to simulate transfer of bacteria from cutting boards to cooked meat. L. monocytogenes successfully attached to polyethylene and wooden cutting boards and recovered after holding time up to 1 h. Transmissions of L. monocytogenes to cooled cooked samples from both types of cutting boards were relatively higher than hot cooked samples. Moreover, transfer rates of L. monocytogenes from wooden cutting boards at holding time of 1 h to both cooled and hot cooked samples were lower than those from polyethylene cutting board. It is recommended to use different cutting boards for raw and cooked materials and apply detergents and hot water for cleaning procedure to eliminate L. monocytogenes attached to the cutting boards and prevent cross-contamination of final products.

Assessment of Penicillium expansum and Escherichia coli transfer from poplar crates to apples

“…In another study, the transfer of E. coli O157:H7 strain from stainless steel to several food products was, on the whole, higher for meat than for vegetables (Silagyi, Kim, Lo, & Wei, 2009). The transmission of L. monocytogenes from a wooden board to chicken after 30 min was higher for cooled chicken meat (3.2 log CFU/mL) than for hot chicken meat (0.8 log CFU/mL) (Goh et al, 2014).…”

“…This result is fully in accordance with previous studies of transfer of microorganisms from wood to food. Transfer of L. monocytogenes from wooden cutting boards to chicken meat was strongly decreased, moving from 4.8 log 10 CFU/mL to 0.4 log 10 CFU/mL after 1 h of contact time (Goh et al, 2014). A study with several foodborne pathogens was performed to evaluate the transfer rate between stainless steel surfaces and foods.…”

Ready-to-eat meat products as a source of Listeria monocytogenes

“…Moreover, lack of the appropriate sanitisers and inaccurate washing of polyethylene and wooden cutting boards may result in the persistence of L. monocytogenes and cross-contamination of other food products. Guat Goh et al (15) revealed that the number of L. monocytogenes on chicken meat in comparison with the number of bacteria found on the cutting board depended, among others, on the material from which the cutting board was made. In the case of the transfer of bacteria from wooden board to chicken meat (30 min after cutting the contaminated raw meat on the same cutting board), the probability of cross-contamination was 73.5%, whereas in the case of a plastic cutting board it amounted to 90.2% (15).…”

A 3-year hygiene and safety monitoring of a meat processing plant which uses raw materials of global origin

“…Ill-designed equipment, in combination with the above hygiene failures may also cause the development of microbial harborage sites (Carpentier and Cerf, 2011), which further serve as continuous sources of bacterial contamination (Sofos and Geornaras, 2010). Several studies have demonstrated that surfaces and equipment, such as cutting boards, slicers, knives or grinders, may constitute potential vehicles of contamination (Goh et al, 2014;Gounadaki et al, 2008;Papadopoulou et al, 2012). High persistence of L. monocytogenes (Senczek et al, 2000) or Salmonella spp.…”