Genetic relatedness among Listeria monocytogenes isolated in foods and food production chain in southern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

a b s t r a c tListeria monocytogenes is a foodborne bacterial pathogen of great concern to food industry. This is mainly due to its capacity to grow at low temperatures, its wide distribution in the environment and ability to adhere to various surfaces that come into contact with food. The aim of this study was to investigate the clonal relationship among L. monocytogenes isolates. Our purpose was to better understand the diversity of this pathogen in foods and food production chains in southern Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Forty four L. monocytogenes strains were characterized by serotyping and PFGE. Six different serotypes were found in the food and food environment (1/2a, 1/2b, 1/2c, 3a, 4b, 4e) and combination of macrorestriction patterns using AscI and ApaI, yielded 29 different pulsotypes. Strains with identical restriction patterns were isolated from foods of different sources and environments at different times. The presence of persistent strains of L. monocytogenes emphasizes the importance of cross-contamination in these food processing environments. It is likely that this occurs mainly due to ineffective cleaning and sanitization procedures, which allow for the survival and adaptation of these strains in the food processing environment, thereby causing persistence and contamination of final products.

Typing of Listeria Monocytogenes Isolated from Slaughtered Cattle and Beef Meat

“…However, many strains demonstrated the same PFGE profile, virulence marker and antibiotic resistance patterns, which may indicate the presence of persistent L. monocytogenes along beef production chain. Similar observations were also noted during other conducted studies where the strains in the meat processing environment survived even for a 3-year period (8,10,12,13). It has been also proved that the improvement of hygiene procedures reduced the prevalence and spread of L. monocytogenes in meat products intended to retail sale (1,11).…”

An overview of Listeria monocytogenes contamination in ready to eat meat, dairy and fishery foods

“…In food processing plants the microrganism may remain from months to years due to its ability to form biofilm, being detected by laboratory tests even after sanitization (TODD & NOTERMANS, 2011;MENDONÇA et al, 2012;CASELANI et al, 2013;HENRIQUES et al, 2014).…”

“…However, considering the fact that reports about this microrganism detection in different foods marketed in the country are frequently (PETTINATI et al, 2006;ROSSI et al, 2011;FAI et al, 2011;MENDONÇA et. al., 2012;ANDRADE et al, 2014;RISTORI et al, 2014) as well as its isolation in hospitalized patients, but without associating with the consumption of a particular food (CRUZ et al, 2008;MARTINS et al, 2010;REIS et al, 2011), it can be inferred that there is a possibility of non notification of listeriosis human cases in Brazil.…”

Genotypic profile of Listeria monocytogenes isolated in refrigerated chickens in southern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

“…The prevalence of L. monocytogenes in refrigerated chickens from local grocery stores, along with the diversity of serotypes and the genotypic profiles found, reflect the wide distribution of this pathogen in poultry slaughterhouses, and the difficulty of their elimination from the environment of processing plants. Moreover, the inefficiency of the cleaning and sanitization procedures allow the adaptation and survival of L. monocytogenes strains in food processing environments, resulting in persistence and contamination of the final product (MENDONÇA et al, 2012;LEONG et al, 2014).…”