Prevalence of Listeria Monocytogenes in Food in Iran

Author
Mohtashami Mohtashami
Department of Biology, School of Basic Science, Neyshabur Branch, Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur, Iran
Abstract
Introduction

Listeria monocytogenes has been described as an opportunistic pathogen that mainly affects children, pregnant women, the elderly, or immunocompromised patients. This disease is associated with serious public health and economic consequences. In recent years, due to the importance of this disease, there have been reports of the spread of this pathogen in various food products. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Listeria species in different foods in Iran. The prevalence of Listeria in Iran was compared with the rest of the world, and finally, the antibiotic resistance of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from food was discussed. The results showed that L. monocytogenes were most prevalent in chicken, raw meat, ready-to-eat, fish, dairy, and egg food groups, respectively. In addition, the prevalence of this bacterium, especially in ready-to-eat foods (which are consumed without further heat treatment) and undercooked products, can be a potential risk to public health. Therefore, contamination must be monitored and controlled at all levels of the food chain continuously and periodically.

Keywords
Listeria monocytogenes
Prevalence
Antibiotic resistance
dairy
meat
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