Relationship between Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria spp. in Seafood Processing Plants

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between prevalence of Listeria monoeytogenes as an outcome and Listeria spp. as an explanatory variable by food products, food contact surfaces, and nonfood contact surfaces in seafood processing plants by using peer-reviewed published data. Nine sets of prevalence data of L. monoeytogenes and Listeria spp. were collected from published studies and used for the analyses. Based on our analysis, the relationship between L. monoeytogenes prevalence and Listeria spp. prevalence in food products (incoming raw materials and finish products) was significant (P = 0.04) with (low) R-2 = 0.36. Furthermore, Listeria spp. were not a good indicator for L. monoeytogenes when testing food contact surfaces (R-2 = 0.10). Listeria spp. were a good indicator for L. monocyto genes only on nonfood contact surfaces (R-2 = 0.90). On the other hand, the presence of Listeria spp. on food contact surfaces (R-2 = 0.002) and nonfood contact surfaces (R-2 = 0.03) was not a good indicator for L. monocytogenes presence in food products. In general, prevalence of Listeria spp. does not seem to he a good indicator for L. monocytogenes prevalence in seafood processing plants.