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Availability and Use of Alternative Methods for the Detection and/or Confirmation of Listeria monocytogenes in the Frame of Official Controls in Europe: an overview

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Abstract

Listeriosis remains one of the most severe foodborne diseases in terms of fatality rate. Listeria monocytogenes can grow under stressful conditions and contaminate various food categories. Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 modified on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs includes both qualitative and quantitative food safety criteria on L. monocytogenes and mentions EN ISO 11290–1 Standard as the reference detection method for the qualitative criteria. This European regulation also allow the use of alternative validated methods in the frame of own checks. Here, we report current practices in Europe on the use of alternative methods for the detection of L. monocytogenes in the frame of official controls, further to an enquiry conducted in 2022 by the European Union Reference Laboratory for L. monocytogenes. Current practices in Europe reflect the successive development of complementary technologies in the field of food safety analysis aiming at improving the accuracy, speed and automation of detection methods.

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Abbreviations

PCR:

Polymerase Chain Reaction

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Isabelle Desforges (bioMérieux) for very helpful informations, and the NRLs L. monocytogenes network for its valuable participation. This study was funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Health And Digital Executive Agency (HADEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The authors would like to thank particularly A.S.A. (Animal Société Aliment) association for funding missions and practices of Mélanie Mancier and Lucas Chikhi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Food Safety ANSES, Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety, 14 Rue Pierre Et Marie Curie, 94702, Maisons Alfort Cedex, France

    Mélanie Mancier, Lucas Chikhi, Adrien Asséré, Léna Barre & Nathalie Gnanou Besse

  2. Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse ENVT, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France

    Mélanie Mancier, Lucas Chikhi & Hubert Brugère

  3. IRSD, Université de Toulouse, INSERM, INRAE, ENVT, UPS, Toulouse, France

    Hubert Brugère

  4. ANSES, Research and Reference Division, Strategy and Programmes Directorate, 14 Rue Pierre Et Marie Curie, 94702, Maisons-Alfort Cedex, France

    Bertrand Lombard

Authors
  1. Mélanie Mancier
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  2. Lucas Chikhi
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  3. Hubert Brugère
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  4. Bertrand Lombard
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  5. Adrien Asséré
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  6. Léna Barre
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  7. Nathalie Gnanou Besse
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All authors made substantial contributions to the work and reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Nathalie Gnanou Besse.

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Mélanie Mancier and Lucas Chikhi have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.

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Mancier, M., Chikhi, L., Brugère, H. et al. Availability and Use of Alternative Methods for the Detection and/or Confirmation of Listeria monocytogenes in the Frame of Official Controls in Europe: an overview. Food Anal. Methods 17, 251–259 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-023-02559-5

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