Articles Tagged with ''listeria''

Realizing measurable improvement in food safety performance rests largely on the culture of your company. Dedicated investment in optimizing your organization's food safety culture—from the boardroom to the warehouse, and throughout your entire supply chain—offers significant returns in the form of regulatory compliance, mitigated recall risk, enhanced consumer trust, and a more skilled and invested workforce. 

Unlike many other foodborne pathogens, Listeria can both survive and grow at refrigeration temperatures. This ability, along with the risk of cross-contamination to other foods and surfaces, contributes to its persistence in food processing environments and makes it a significant concern for food safety.

Responding to recent listeriosis outbreaks and recognizing that consumers do not always handle or cook ready-to-heat meals in accordance with package instructions, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) encourages businesses to implement recommended practices to better control L. monocytogenes.

The agency has published a summary of foodborne illness outbreak investigations involving USDA-regulated products in Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, alongside an after-action review of a fatal listeriosis outbreak linked to Yu Shang-brand ready-to-eat (RTE) meats that was solved in 2024.

Ready-to-eat (RTE) pâté en croute contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and produced by Drôme Ardèche Tradition has sickened 12 people across France, resulting in two deaths. All patients were hospitalized.

Ready-to-eat (RTE) foods come with heightened food safety risks due to their lack of a final kill-step, leaving them susceptible to foodborne pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes. To help food firms control RTE food safety risks at all steps of the supply chain, this eBook provides solutions related to plant sanitation and hygiene, temperature abuse, culture, and more.

Despite having Listeria-positive samples that matched the outbreak strain via whole genome sequencing (WGS), which prompted an FDA Import Alert and a company recall for the suspected vehicle of illness, FDA did not disclose the specific product or any of the firms implicated.

The researchers conducted environmental sampling throughout a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) operation and tested swabs for L. monocytogenes. Boot covers proved to be a useful tool for evaluating the effectiveness of cleaning and sanitation.  

The research from Oregon State University also found that queso cotija supports L. monocytogenes survival but not growth, and that organic acid surface treatments could inhibit L. monocytogenes growth on queso fresco. 

This episode of Food Safety Five discusses updated USDA-FSIS guidance on Listeria testing in RTE facilities, the latest on the Boar’s Head facility behind the fatal outbreak of 2024, and a real-world Listeria “Seek and Destroy” success story.