Prevalence of Listeria Species in Ready-to-Eat Food in Shahrekord Restaurants

Abstract Background and Objective: Listeria bacteria with worldwide widespread are commonly found in soil, sewage, dust and water. Among which,Listeria monocytogenes can cause a serious food-borne disease. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Listeria species in ready-to-eat foods. Material and Methods: The samples (n=235) including oloveyh salad (n = 64), Yogurt stew (n= 35), vegetable salad (n=52), macaroni salad (n= 48) and meat salad (n =36) were collected from the restaurants in Shahrekord, Iran. Enrichment and selective media were used to determine the prevalence of Listeria species. . Results: The results showed that 8.5 % of the samples were infected by Listeria spp. The highest were isolated from vegetable salad (17.3%) and the lowest from macaroni salad (4.2%). Listeria monocytogenes was isolated from 7 samples (3.0%). Other isolated species were L.innocua (4.7%) and L.seeligeri (0.9%). Conclusion: It seems that eating ready-to- eat food or raw and undercooked foods has the potential risk of contamination to the Listeria species. Keywords: Listeria, Ready- to- Eat Food, Shahrekord