سعید خالدیان

Mortality rate of Listeria infection is high and has been reported to be up to 30%. In this regard, the present study aimed to provide more information about food sources contaminated with the Listeria monocytogenes and offer suitable strategies to control this pathogen in supply centers, slaughterhouses, and processing centers.

Results of investigations on the prevalence of L. monocytogenes in food (seafood and aquatic products, red meat, poultry, and dairy products) during 2010-2023 were reviewed. In total, 61 acceptable studies were involved in the present research. After the selection of papers, their key results were extracted, including the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes, cultivation method, sample type, and sampling location.

Listeria monocytogenes is prevalent in all types of seafood products, red meat, poultry, dairy products, and vegetables, as well as ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook foods. Consuming raw and undercooked foods contaminated with animal and human feces and direct contact with feces can cause Listeria infection in humans. L. monocytogenes is sensitive to amoxicillin, ampicillin, penicillin, and gentamicin antibiotics; therefore, these antibiotics can be used for listeriosis treatment.

In previous studies, the importance of traditional meat and dairy supply centers in L. monocytogenes transmission has been addressed to a lesser extent. It can be concluded that appropriate standards should be developed and applied to control this food pathogen by regulatory systems. In addition, regular and periodic monitoring of food products and providing necessary training to people about how to prevent food poisoning can play an effective role in reducing listeriosis.

This study was performed to compare the sensitivity of seven plate methods and commercial kits for the detection of antibiotics in vitro and in poultry carcasses. In the first step, different concentrations of five commonly used antibiotics in poultry breeding were prepared and the sensitivity of both methods in antibiotic residue detection was evaluated. Subsequently, 20 days old broilers were divided into 5 groups. After an adaptation period and feeding non-antibiotic diet, groups were treated with therapeutic doses of Oxytetracycline, Enrofloxacin, Florfenicol, and Fosfomycin through drinking water. One group was considered as a control. At antibiotic discontinuation day (day 0) and days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 thereafter, 3 chicks from each group were slaughtered and thigh muscle, liver and kidney were sampled and residual antibiotics were evaluated by both methods. The results showed that sensitivity of commercial kits was higher in in-vitro condition than that of poultry carcass. In the seven plate method, the residuals were more detectable in the liver and kidney. The commercial kit was able to detect antibiotics only up to 24 hours, after which almost all specimens were negative. The seven plate method was positive for most of the specimens up to three days after discontinuation.  This study showed that the efficacy of the seven-plate method was more than commercial kits, and in order to increase the efficiency of detection methods, it is recommended to perform it on the liver and kidney of four carcasses from each herd (total of 8 samples). If at least four samples are positive, the herd is considered as infected and the HPLC method is used to confirm the specimens.