Use of results of microbiological analyses for risk-based control of Listeria monocytogenes in marinated broiler legs.

Microbial risk assessment provides a means of estimating consumer risks associated with food products. The methods can also be applied at the plant level. In this study results of microbiological analyses were used to develop a robust single plant level risk assessment.

Modelling transfer of Listeria monocytogenes during slicing of 'gravad' salmon.

Transfer of a rifampicin-resistant mutant of Listeria monocytogenes from an inoculated slicing blade to slices of 'gravad' salmon (Salmo salar), and from inoculated salmon fillet to the slicing machine and subsequently to slices of uninoculated fillet was studied. The effect of slicing temperature (0 degrees C, 10 degrees C and room temperature), inoculum level (approx. 3, 5 and 8 log CFU/blade), and attachment time of inoculum to blade (10 min and 2.

Typing of Listeria monocytogenes isolates originating from the food processing industry with automated ribotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.

A total of 486 Listeria monocytogenes isolates originating from 17 Finnish food processing plants (representing meat, poultry, fish, and dairy production) were collected and typed by automated ribotyping using EcoRI as the restriction enzyme. The isolates were divided into 16 different ribotypes (RTs). Some of these isolates (121), representing all EcoRI types and 16 food plants, were subjected to ribotyping with the PvuII enzyme, to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing with AscI and SmaI restriction enzymes, and to serotyping with O-antigen antisera.