A Dole processing plant in Ohio reportedly got busted with listeria for its fresh cut salad food items, according to Food Safety News Thursday.
Listeria has been a problem in most of the food industry. Listeria is a bacteria that can well be controlled. Read below the analysis report of Food Safety News about Listeria:
According to the news publication, Listeria has a low infective effect for compromise; no one knows the amount of Listeria in every case, but believed to be a 1000 cells that can cause disease. It is adapted to different environments, and can colonize many surfaces. Listeria is seen in 7 percent of produce growing areas, and is widely distributive, with a detection rate of about 3 percent of soils.
As reported by Food Safety News:
"The organism is hardy and survives well. Listeria may colonize a surface, but it can also be transient in an operation and gains entry into a plant with products, in soil, on shoes, and in dust. An effective sanitation program should be taking care of the transient Listeria that finds its way into a plant. From a risk perspective, finding Listeria in a drain or on a floor, is a totally different thing than finding the organism on a food contact surface or in a finished product. "
"Listeria contaminates cold, wet environments and harbors in drains and on floors and any damp surface if cleaning is not effective. Listeria can create bio-films that resist removal. Cells can multiply in the environment, albeit slowly, perhaps to 10 generations in about seven days at typical refrigeration temperatures. Temperatures around 41° F stop most other human pathogens from multiplication, but not Listeria. Eventually, these cells find their way onto surfaces that contact food, and the food itself."
With just a little effort, people can do so much in combatting Listeria.
