Health professionals' knowledge and understanding about Listeria monocytogenes indicates a need for improved professional training.

Listeria monocytogenes causes listeriosis, an uncommon but potentially fatal disease in immunocompromised persons, with a public health burden of approximately $2 billion annually. Those consumers most at risk are the highly susceptible populations otherwise known as the immunocompromised. Health professionals have a considerable amount of interaction with the immunocompromised and are therefore a valuable resource for providing appropriate safe food handling information.

Nurses and dietitians differ in food safety information provided to highly susceptible clients.

Objective: To determine content, education channels, and motivational factors that influence what health professionals teach about safe food handling to populations who are highly susceptible for foodborne illnesses. To assess the differences in information provided by health professionals to highly susceptible populations.

Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional, Web-based survey.