The survival of Listeria monocytogenes during long term desiccation is facilitated by sodium chloride and organic material

One specific DNA-subtype, as determined by RAPD, of Listeria monocytogenes persisted in a fish slaughterhouse for years, even during months with no production where the plant was cleaned and kept dry. We hypothesised that tolerance to desiccation could be a factor in explaining the persistence of L monocytogenes in food processing environments and the purpose of the present study was to determine ability of L monocytogenes to survive desiccation on stainless steel under simulated food processing conditions.

Viable counts of eight different L. monocytogenes strains exposed to different soils and relative humidities (RHs) during desiccation decreased significantly (p