What is it about Listeria that causes so many problems?

So, what is it about Listeria that causes so many problems compared to other food poisoning bacteria? The worrying fact is that it is a hardy, cold loving microorganism that can multiply rapidly at refrigerated temperatures in most foods.

With a growing market for Read to Eat (RTE) foods and the relentless push to extend shelf-life, any relaxation in hygiene control can increase the risk of contamination. A single listeria cell can easily multiply and reach infective dose levels within a few days, causing listeriosis.

For a food manufacturer, if a food product contamination has been detected and is destroyed before it’s release, it’s a minor loss. But if not, it becomes a major problem with a high possibility for a recall. That’s what you don’t want.

So how can we prevent the risk of Listeria contamination?

Currently, the most effective way to prevent contamination is to control it. We can effectively manage Listeria by providing all employees with proper training on contamination prevention, cleaning, and sanitizing procedures.

Listeria often thrives on dirty floors, drains, cleaning and washing areas, food contact equipment, walls, ceilings, compressed air and HVAC systems, permeable surfaces, open seams, cracks, crevices, and hard-to-reach or hard-to-clean parts of equipment. Even with the best cleaning and sanitation program in place – listeria can still survive. That’s why you also need a robust and regular environmental monitoring program to identify potential hotspots. This targeting adds extra control and ensures cross contamination does not occur in other cleaned areas.

But is there another way? A safer solution that you can just add to a product that simply targets and destroys listeria?

View our innovative yet natural solution to combat listeria here.