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Listeria monocytogenes adheres to many materials found in food‐processing environments
Author(s) -
Beresford M.R.,
Andrew P.W.,
Shama G.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2672.2001.01330.x
Subject(s) - listeria monocytogenes , adhesion , listeria , sonication , contamination , food science , food contact materials , materials science , polypropylene , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , composite material , biology , food packaging , bacteria , chromatography , ecology , genetics
M.R. BERESFORD, P.W. ANDREW AND G. SHAMA. 2001. Aims: To investigate the adhesion of Listeria monocytogenes 10403S to 17 different, food‐use approved materials representing metals, rubbers and polymers. Methods and Results: Adhesion assays were conducted by placing ‘coupons’ of the materials in planktonic cultures at 30°C, and then immediately withdrawing them (‘short contact’) or leaving them submerged in the cultures for 2 h. Adherent cells were recovered by sonication. In the short contact experiments, the logarithm of the mean viable counts ranged from 3·67 ± 0·43 to 4·78 ± 0·38. After 2 h contact time, the numbers of adherent cells had increased significantly for all materials with the exception of polypropylene. The highest count (6·33 ± 0·31) recorded was for stainless steel 405. Conclusions: Adhesion to a wide range of materials was time‐dependent and characterized by reversible and irreversible stages. Significance and Impact of the Study: Adhesion test protocols must account for cell carry‐over and cells which are only weakly bound. Material selection may only have a limited role in reducing food contamination by listeria.