title: Effect of Filling Type and Heating Method on Prevalence of Listeria species and Listeria monocytogenes in Dumplings Produced in Poland.
abstract: The count of Listeria monocytogenes was determined, before and after heat treatment, in 200 samples of dumplings of 9 brands and with different types of stuffing. Analyses were conducted according to ISO 11290-1 standard and with real-time PCR method. The highest count of L. monocytogenes was found in meat dumplings (10(2) to 10(4) CFU/g), whereas products with white cheese-potato stuffing and vegetable-mushroom stuffing contained significantly less Listeria, 20 to 80 and 5 to 32 CFU/g, respectively. In cooled meat dumplings the extent of contamination depended significantly on the producer. In addition, a significant (P < 0.05) correlation was determined between contamination level and meat content in the stuffing (rho = 0.418), especially in stuffing containing pork meat (0.464), contrary to beef-containing stuffing (0.284). Heating dumplings in boiling water for 2 min completely eliminated L. monocytogenes in meat dumplings. In contrast, the microwave heating applied for 2 min at 600 W only reduced the count of L. monocytogenes by 1 to 2 logs. Hence, the microwave heating failed to reduce the risk of infection with this pathogen below the level permissible in the EU regulation, especially in the most contaminated samples. In this case, the efficacy of microwave heating was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the initial count of L. monocytogenes (rho = 0.626), then by meat content in the stuffing (0.476), and to the lowest extent--by the type of meat (0.415 to 0.425). However, no Listeria sp. and L. monocytogenes were isolated from cooked dumplings with fruits (strawberries or blueberries).
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Microbiology and Applied Biotechnology, West Pomeranian Univ. of Technology, Papieża Pawła VI 3 st., 71-459, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Szymczak
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Microbiology and Applied Biotechnology, West Pomeranian Univ. of Technology, Papieża Pawła VI 3 st., 71-459, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Waldemar
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dąbrowski
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002611:Cheese; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003296:Cooking / Q000379:methods*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008087:Listeria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008089:Listeria monocytogenes / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008460:Meat; D008872:Microwaves; D011044:Poland; D013552:Swine; D014675:Vegetables
keywords: Listeria sp; dumplings; Listeria monocytogenes; meat; microwave heating; real-time PCR