title: Occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes in soft and semi-soft cheeses in retail outlets in Sweden.
abstract: Samples of 333 retail cheeses produced in or imported into Sweden were examined for the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. Listeria monocytogenes was isolated from 6% of the cheese samples. Cheeses made from raw milk were more frequently contaminated with L. monocytogenes (42%) than cheeses made from heat-treated milk (2%). The incidence of the organism in whole cheeses and pre-cut wedges was similar (6%). L. monocytogenes was only found in imported cheeses (18 from France, and one from Germany and Italy, respectively). The numbers of L. monocytogenes varied from < 1 x 10(2) to 1 x 10(5) cfu/g. All L. monocytogenes strains belonged to serogroup 1/2, except isolates from two samples that belonged to serogroup 4.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Loncarevic
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Danielsson-Tham
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tham
mesh_terms: D002611:Cheese / Q000145:classification / Q000382:microbiology*; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013548:Sweden