ENUMERATING LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES IN FOOD: A PROBLEM OF LOW NUMBERS |
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| Authors: | N. GNANOU BESSE P. COLIN |
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| Affiliation: | Agence Française de SécuritéSanitaire des Aliments A.F.S.S.A. Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherches sur la Qualitédes Aliments et des Procédés agro-alimentaires UnitéComposition et Hygiène des Produits Laitiers Maisons Alfort, France; Agence Française de SécuritéSanitaire des Aliments A.F.S.S.A. Laboratoire d'Etudes et de Recherches en Pathologie des Poissons Plouzané, France |
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| Abstract: | Listeria monocytogenes is recognized as a serious foodborne pathogen in humans. However, an adequate enumeration method is still lacking for the examination of food products which are usually contaminated at low levels, < 100 CFU g−1. The improvement of Listeria enumeration has given place to a considerable sum of research tasks, leading to the proposal of several alternative methods. Several attempts to enumerate L. monocytogenes with the most probable number technique or with methods based on molecular biology or bacteria concentration techniques have been reported. The objective of this paper is to synthesize the current knowledge concerning L. monocytogenes enumeration, by focusing particularly on the problem of the enumeration of low numbers. |
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