Prevalence and Level of Listeria monocytogenes in Ice Cream Linked to a Listeriosis Outbreak in the United States

Y I Chen; Laurel S Burall; Dumitru Macarisin; Régis Pouillot; Errol Strain; Antonio J DE Jesus; Anna Laasri; Hua Wang; Laila Ali; Aparna Tatavarthy; Guodong Zhang; Lijun Hu; James Day; Jihun Kang; Surasri Sahu; Devayani Srinivasan; Karl Klontz; Mickey Parish; Peter S Evans; Eric W Brown; Thomas S Hammack; Donald L Zink; Atin R Datta

doi:10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-16-208

Prevalence and Level of Listeria monocytogenes in Ice Cream Linked to a Listeriosis Outbreak in the United States

J Food Prot. 2016 Nov;79(11):1828-1832. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-16-208.

Authors

Y I Chen¹, Laurel S Burall², Dumitru Macarisin¹, Régis Pouillot³, Errol Strain³, Antonio J DE Jesus¹, Anna Laasri¹, Hua Wang¹, Laila Ali¹, Aparna Tatavarthy¹, Guodong Zhang¹, Lijun Hu¹, James Day¹, Jihun Kang², Surasri Sahu², Devayani Srinivasan², Karl Klontz³, Mickey Parish⁴, Peter S Evans¹, Eric W Brown¹, Thomas S Hammack¹, Donald L Zink⁴, Atin R Datta²

Affiliations

¹ U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Regulatory Science, College Park, Maryland 20740.
² U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Applied Research and Safety Assessment, Laurel, Maryland 20708, USA.
³ Office of Analytics and Outreach, College Park, Maryland 20740.
⁴ Office of the Center Director, College Park, Maryland 20740.

PMID: 28221903
DOI: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-16-208

Abstract

A most-probable-number (MPN) method was used to enumerate Listeria monocytogenes in 2,320 commercial ice cream scoops manufactured on a production line that was implicated in a 2015 listeriosis outbreak in the United States. The analyzed samples were collected from seven lots produced in November 2014, December 2014, January 2015, and March 2015. L. monocytogenes was detected in 99% (2,307 of 2,320) of the tested samples (lower limit of detection, 0.03 MPN/g), 92% of which were contaminated at <20 MPN/g. The levels of L. monocytogenes in these samples had a geometric mean per lot of 0.15 to 7.1 MPN/g. The prevalence and enumeration data from an unprecedented large number of naturally contaminated ice cream products linked to a listeriosis outbreak provided a unique data set for further understanding the risk associated with L. monocytogenes contamination for highly susceptible populations.

Keywords: Enumeration; Ice cream; Listeriosis outbreak.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Disease Outbreaks
Food Contamination
Food Microbiology
Ice Cream*
Listeria monocytogenes*
Listeriosis
Prevalence
United States