EPIDEMIOLOGY AND STRESS RESPONSES

Listeria monocytogenes causes potentially fatal illness to susceptible people and is found in various foods. It typically enters processed foods via a contaminated processing environment, in which it may have persisted for years. To study the role of raw material as a potential source of contamination of food processing plants by L. monocytogenes, the prevalence and genetic diversity of this species in tonsils of pigs and in raw fish was examined. A total of 14 % and 4 % of tonsils of pigs and raw fish, respectively, harboured L. monocytogenes. From 38 pig tonsil isolates and 1