Himadri Majumder*

MSc Microbiology, Birkbeck, University of London, MSc Biotechnology, Bangalore University, Bangalore, India

*Corresponding Author: Himadri Majumder, Flat 3, Churchill House, Leybourne Dell, Benenden, Kent, TN17 4EB, UK. E-mail: hmajumder@yahoo.com

Received: December 16, 2021; Published: January 10, 2022

Abstract

Listeriosis is a serious foodborne infection affects mainly the vulnerable groups in the community. Since 1940, twenty-six species with eight subspecies have been identified to date from environment, water and food sources where L. monocytogenes alone is considered as a major human pathogen. Foodborne disease outbreak amidst the COVID-19 pandemic would have added consequences to the economy and public health. Approximately 2.4 million cases of food borne illnesses were reported with more than 16000 hospitalisations in 2018. Between September 2019 and July 2021, there were 57 food products recalled by the UK Food Standards Agency those found contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Even though, L. monocytogenes is so far known to be sensitive to antibiotics, their unique antimicrobial resistance to fluoroquinolones, mainly in ready -to- eat food, has been explored together with their durability against commonly used disinfectants in food manufacturing settings. Due to their idiosyncratic growth and survival ability along with the potential of causing serious health consequences including mortality, the article has recommended to set out a “Zero tolerance” to L. monocytogenes detection where current legislated limit in 10 - 100 cfu/g throughout product shelf life.

Keywords: Ready-#o-Eat Food Safety; Listeria Monocytogenes; Listeriosis; Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR); Food Hygiene

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Citation

Citation: Himadri Majumder. “A Brief History of Listeria Species, Increasing Trend of Foodborne Listeriosis in Ready-to-Eat Food and their Interaction with Antibiotics and Possible Control Measures". Acta Scientific Microbiology 5.2 (2022): 10-19.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Himadri Majumder. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.