Listeria Monocytogenes Outbreak Traced to Celery; Or Was It?
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) has shut down a San Antonio packager of produce for restaurants and schools following its determination that a L. monocytogenes outbreak thought to have been responsible for five deaths of immune compromised individuals originated at its facility. The company targeted for the shutdown is disputing the claim saying that its testing showed no L. monocytogenes and questioning whether the samples taken from which the bacterium was cultured were contaminated thanks to shoddy procedures by DSHS personnel. Read about it in "San Antonio Produce Plant Closed by Health Agency" in the Houston Chronicle. The DSHS news release can be found at "DSHS Orders SanGar Produce to Close, Recall Products".
L. monocytogenes contamination of ready-to-eat foods is a world-wide problem. See: "Occurrence of Listeria Monocytogenes in Ready-To-Eat Foods From Supermarkets in Southern Italy". For a recent discussion of molecular markers for detection and attribution and biomarkers for surveillance and epidemiological investigations see: "Future Challenges to Microbial Food Safety".
