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Sub‐lethal damage of Listeria monocytogenes after long‐term chilled storage at 4 °C
Author(s) -
Dykes G. A.,
Withers K. M.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2672.1999.00472.x
Subject(s) - listeria monocytogenes , listeria , microbiology and biotechnology , term (time) , biology , bacteria , food science , genetics , physics , quantum mechanics
The possibility that long term in vitro chilled storage may result in sub‐lethal damage to Listeria monocytogenes cells was investigated by comparing growth of chill‐stored (starvation at 4 °C) and fresh cultures on selective and non‐selective media. Growth of freshly grown cells was minimally (3–8%) affected by selective LSAMM agar compared with non‐selective Brain Heart Infusion agar. In contrast, numbers of chill‐stored strains were reduced by greater than 99% after direct plating on the same selective and non‐selective media. Furthermore, chill‐stored strains were able to grow in standard selective broth (Listeria Selective broth and Fraser broth) only if undiluted inocula (approximately 10 5 –10 6 cfu ml −1 ) were used, whereas they were capable of growth in Brain Heart Infusion broth even when the lowest dilutions were used (approximately 10 1 cfu ml −1 ). The potential public health consequences of this finding for the isolation of Listeria monocytogenes from foods is considered.