Abstract
Listeria monocytogenes is an important foodborne pathogen and a major cause of death associated with bacterial foodborne infections. Control of L. monocytogenes on most ready-to-eat (RTE) foods remains a challenge. The potential use of β-phenylethylamine (PEA) as an organic antimicrobial against L. monocytogenes was evaluated in an effort to develop a new intervention for its control. Using a collection of 62 clinical and food-related isolates we determined the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PEA against L. monocytogenes in different broth and agar media. Bologna type sausage (lyoner) and smoked salmon were used as food model systems to validate the in vitro findings. PEA had a growth inhibitory and bactericidal effect against L. monocytogenes both in in vitro experiments as well as on lyoner and smoked salmon. The MIC’s ranged from 8 to 12.5 mg/mL. Furthermore, PEA also inhibited L. monocytogenes biofilm formation. Based on good manufacturing practices as a prerequisite, the application of PEA to RTE products might be an additional hurdle to limit L. monocytogenes growth thereby increasing food safety.
Highlights
Listeria monocytogenes is an important foodborne pathogen and a major cause of death associated with bacterial foodborne infection [1,2]
The antimicrobial effect of PEA was assessed in BHI broth revealing that it inhibited the growth of L. monocytogenes in a concentration and strain dependent manner
We determined that PEA was effective at inhibiting growth and reducing viable cell counts of L. monocytogenes on BHI agar and in BHI broth as well as in meat simulation media (MSM) broth
Summary
Listeria monocytogenes is an important foodborne pathogen and a major cause of death associated with bacterial foodborne infection [1,2]. An association between contaminated ready-to-eat (RTE) food in outbreaks and sporadic listeriosis infections is well documented [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Deli meats are amongst the most common foods linked to such outbreaks, an example being the recent and largest listeriosis outbreak in history recorded in South Africa, where polony, a commonly consumed bologna type sausage deli meat product, was implicated as the source of the outbreak [3,8,10,11,12,13,14]. Recent data from the European Union (EU) member states show that L. monocytogenes is isolated at different frequencies from RTE products [2,15].
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