Listeria monocytogenes and pork cuts : Major influence of the plant environment

Molecular typing methods are useful for determining the sources and routes of transmission of pathogeneic microorganisms in food production systems. These methods provided some epidemiological data on Listeria monocytogenes in pork slaughtering and cutting plants. The contamination of pork cuts with this bacterium in mainly due to the lack of efficient cleaning and disinfecting procedures rather than to the introduction of contaminated live pigs. A genomic cluster of Listeria monocytogenes seemed to predominate in the environments investigated, and maybe more generally in meat environments.