Isolation of Listeria monocytogenes in a salami producing plant in Piedmont: use of pulsed field gel electrophoresis to trace contaminations


Submitted: 15 January 2013
Accepted: 12 April 2013
Published: 10 June 2013
Abstract Views: 1172
PDF: 1342
Figura 1: Piantina dello stabilimento e punti di prelievo dei campioni ambientali.: 0
Figura 2: Rappresentazione schematica del dendrogramma generato dalla combinazione dei risultati dei due enzimi. I box evidenziano i cluster indicati in Tabella 2: 0
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Authors

  • Annalisa Costa Dipartimento di Patologia Animale, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Grugliasco (TO), Italy.
  • Maria Ausilia Grassi Dipartimento di Patologia Animale, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Grugliasco (TO), Italy.
  • Sara Lomonaco Dipartimento di Patologia Animale, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Grugliasco (TO), Italy.
  • Patrizia Morra Dipartimento di Patologia Animale, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Grugliasco (TO), Italy.
  • Daniele Nucera Dipartimento di Patologia Animale, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Grugliasco (TO), Italy.
  • Tiziana Civera Dipartimento di Patologia Animale, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Grugliasco (TO), Italy.
The ability of Listeria monocytogenes to survive in different environments and establish persistent contaminations is an important issue for food producers. This study aimed to assess the environmental contamination level in an Italian salami producing plant and to identify possible sources of contamination using pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) on L. monocytogenes isolates obtained from environmental (n=54) and meat samples (n=9) collected over 9 months. Detection of L. monocytogenes was performed using the UNI EN ISO 11290-1 procedure and every isolate was characterised with PFGE, using AscI and ApaI restriction enzymes. The environmental detection frequencies were constant both in the first (22%) and the second (27%) visit, thus suggesting the presence of strains adapted to the processing plant. Equipments can represent a reservoir of L. monocytogenes from which it can spread into the whole producing plant. The reservoir was documented by PFGE results which showed several persistent strains. Moreover, PFGE proved the cross-contamination between surfaces and semiprocessed products like pastes, which furthermore have been contaminated by L. monocytogenes in 100% of samples in the first two visits and in 33% in the last visit. This study gave evidence that detection methods and PFGE characterisation can be effective tools to detect possible sources and routes of contamination.

1.
Costa A, Grassi MA, Lomonaco S, Morra P, Nucera D, Civera T. Isolation of Listeria monocytogenes in a salami producing plant in Piedmont: use of pulsed field gel electrophoresis to trace contaminations. Ital J Food Safety [Internet]. 2013 Jun. 10 [cited 2024 Mar. 28];2(2):e20. Available from: https://www.pagepressjournals.org/ijfs/article/view/ijfs.2013.e20

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