title: Growth of Listeria monocytogenes in refrigerated ready-to-eat foods in Japan.
abstract: The ability of L. monocytogenes to grow in a series of Japanese ready-to-eat (RTE) foods, including boiled baby sardine and Japanese pickle, was tested at two different refrigeration temperatures. In RTE foods in which L. monocytogenes can grow, growth was significantly higher at 10°C than that at 4°C during their shelf lives and growth patterns varied extensively among the different types of foods. However, growth did not occur at 4°C within the shelf life of certain RTE foods, such as broiled squid. The patterns of growth were varied extensively with different sample types. These results suggest that some types of traditional Japanese RTE foods stored at 10°C may be potential sources of listeriosis. To reduce the risk of food-borne listeriosis, studies to determine the contamination levels in RTE foods and the effects of storage temperature on their shelf lives are needed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biomedical Food Research, National Institute of Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan. yokada@nihs.go.jp
authors.forename: Yumiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ohnuki
authors.forename: Hodaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Shizunobu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Igimi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049832:Decapodiformes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D057140:Fast Foods / Q000382:microbiology*; D005399:Fishes / Q000382:microbiology; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012034:Refrigeration; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology