Correlation between the heat treatment applied in the processing of meat products and Listeria monocytogenes

The possible occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes in meat products is of great concern not only for the food safety authorities but also for processors and consumers.Considering the speci ic characteristics of the thermal processing, we can use these facts to validate the subsequent processes, regarding the recontamination of meat products with Listeria monocytogenes.The microbiology testing for the identi ication of Listeria monocytogenes was conducted at a meat processing facility in Cluj County by a third-party lab certi ied by the Romanian Accreditation Association-RENAR.The applied methodology complies with Regulation (EC) 2073/2005, and SR EN ISO 11290-1:2000/A1-2005.The monitoring of the thermal processing was performed daily on each batch of the end product, but for the study only the sampled batches were considered.The samples were collected from the end-product storage before the food products came from the immediate control of the operator within the sector that produced it.For two years (2012)(2013) none of the samples tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes.The absence of Listeria monocytogenes in the tested samples proves, on one hand, the innocuousness of the sampled food products, and on the other hand, the compliance with all the regulations concerning hygiene and the good practices that excluded a possible recontamination of the meat products along the production line from the thermal processing to the endproduct storage, prior to the delivery.