title: Prevalence of food contamination with Listeria spp. in Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
abstract: Listeria monocytogenes is a human pathogen causing serious diseases. We aimed to determine food contamination with Listeria spp. in Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran. Samples (185 dairy, 187 meat products and 158 ready-to-eat foods such as salads) were randomly collected from markets. After processing, samples were cultured in half-Fraser and Fraser broth followed by cultivation on PALCAM and Oxford media. Confirmatory tests including carbohydrate utilization were performed on isolates to determine species. Bacteria were isolated from 66/530 samples (12.5%). Meat products showed the highest (27.2%) and dairy products the lowest (3.8%) contamination rates. L. innocua was found in 56 (10.6%) samples, but L. monocytogenes was only found in 3 samples (0.6%). The results indicate that the rate of contamination with L. monocytogenes, even for ready-to-eat foods, was low but for other Listeria spp., in particular strains of L. innocua, the rate of contamination was higher, suggesting that more control on food sanitation is required.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akya
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Najafi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moradi
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mohebi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adabagher
mesh_terms: D005506:Food Contamination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008087:Listeria / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015995:Prevalence; D012478:Salmonella Food Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology*