ARS | Publication request: Listeria monocytogenes

Submitted to: Pathogens and Toxins in Foods: Challenges and Interventions
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: May 26, 2009
Publication Date: January 1, 2010
Citation: Porto Fett, A.C., Call, J.E., Muriana, P., Freier, T., Luchansky, J.B. 2010. Listeria monocytogenes. In: Juneja, V.K., Sofos, J.N., editors. Pathogens and Toxins in Foods: Challenges and Interventions. Washington, DC: Amreican Society for Microbiology Press. 6:95-107.

Technical Abstract: The presence of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in food is a critical public health concern given that it can grow and/or survive during storage at refrigeration and/or mildly abusive storage temperatures, thus contributing to the burden of food borne listeriosis associated with the consumption of contaminated food. This book chapter concisely addresses the fundamental epidemiological and microbiological aspects of the pathogen, as well as the development of interventions to control Lm in foods and the environment, and the implementation of molecular techniques for tracing Lm in the food chain. It includes the characteristics of the pathogen and the associated illness, the source and incidence of Lm environment and foods, the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect survival and growth in food products and contribute to outbreaks, food processing operations that influence the numbers, spread, or characteristics, the recent advances in biological, chemical, and physical interventions to guard against the pathogen, and the discriminative detection methods for confirmation and trace-back of contaminated products. This book chapter will provide to the readers useful information about the challenges for regulating and managing Lm in foods.