An estimated 1,600 people in the U.S. contract a serious infection from Listeria bacteria in food each year, and of those individuals, about 260 people die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Penn State researchers may now better understand how the bacteria, called Listeria monocytogenes, survive and persist in fruit-packing plants by evading and surviving sanitizers.
According to their study, which is now available online and will be published in the June issue of the journal Biofilm, biofilms—containing otherwise harmless microorganisms that attach to each other and the food surface—result in a kind of shield that surrounds and protects the Listeria. The findings may result in changes to sanitation protocols in food-processing facilities that promise to diminish contamination of food with Listeria, the researchers said.
FoodWorld 