AEM Accepts, published online ahead of print on 23 May 2008

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Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.01828-07
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

A Retail Survey of Brazilian Milk and Minas Frescal Cheese and a Contaminated Dairy Plant To Establish The Prevalence, Relatedness, and Sources of Listeria monocytogenes

J. Renaldi F. Brito^*, Emilia M. P. Santos, Edna F. Arcuri, Carla C. Lange, Maria A. V. P. Brito, Guilherme N. Souza, Mônica M. P. O. Cerqueira, J. Marcela Soto Beltran, Jeffrey E. Call, Yanhong Liu, Anna C. S. Porto-Fett, and John B. Luchansky

Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), Labex, Beltsville, MD; Embrapa, Dairy Cattle National Research Center, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil; U.S. Department of Agriculture, ARS, Eastern Regional Research Center, MFSRU, Wyndmoor, PA, 19038, USA; Federal University of Minas Gerais, Veterinary School, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil; Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrolo, Unidad Culiacán, Mexico

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: jrfbrito{at}cnpgl.embrapa.br.

A study was designed to recover Listeria monocytogenes from pasteurized milk and Minas Frescal cheese (MFC) sampled at retail and to identify the contamination source(s) of these products in the corresponding dairy processing plant. Fifty milk samples (9 brands) and 55 MFC samples (10 brands) were tested from retail sites located in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil. All milk samples and 45 samples from 9 of 10 MFC brands tested negative for L. monocytogenes; however, "Brand F" of MFC obtained from retail establishments #119 and #159 tested positive. Thus, the farm/plant that produced Brand F MFC was sampled; all samples from the milking parlor tested negative for L. monocytogenes, whereas several sites within the processing plant and MFC samples tested positive. All 344 isolates recovered from retail MFC, Plant F MFC, and Plant F environmental samples were serotype 1/2a and displayed the same AscI or ApaI fingerprints. Since these results established that the storage coolers served as the contamination source of the MFC, the plant was closed so that corrective renovations could be made. Following renovation, samples from sites that previously tested positive for the pathogen were collected from the processing environment and MFC on multiple visits; all tested negative for L. monocytogenes. In addition, on subsequent visits to retail establishments #159 and #119, all MFC tested negative for the pathogen. Studies are ongoing to quantify the prevalence, levels, and types of L. monocytogenes in MFC and associated processing plants to lessen the likelihood of listeriosis in Brazil.