Completely revised, the new edition of this bestseller incorporates recent findings to present readers with a complete and current overview of foodborne listeriosis, including information on listeriosis in animals and humans, pathogenesis, methods of detection, and subtyping. Two new chapters deal with risk assessment, cost of outbreaks, regulatory control in various countries, and future directions for research. The text covers many high-risk foods including fermented and unfermented dairy products, meat, poultry, fish, seafood, and products of plant origin. This authoritative resource has proven in to be a critical tool for those involved with preventing and curbing outbreaks of this dangerous pathogen.

"Presents the most advanced information on this dangerous pathogen and its incidence in the food supply edition. Second Edition features a new chapter on pathogenesis, a new chapter on typing strains of Listeria monocytogenes, and revisions and additions to the first edition chapters."

"Presents the most advanced information on this dangerous pathogen and its incidence in the food supply edition. Second Edition features a new chapter on pathogenesis, a new chapter on typing strains of Listeria monocytogenes, and revisions and additions to the first edition chapters."

Since the second edition of Listeria, Listeriosis, and Food Safety was published in 1999, the United States has seen a 40 percent decline in the incidence of listeriosis, with the current rate of illness now below the 2010 target of 2.5 cases per million. Research on this foodborne pathogen, however, has continued unabated, concentrating in the last five years on establishing risk assessments to focus limited financial resources on certain high-risk foods including delicatessen meats and soft cheeses.

Cases of listeriosis appear to be predominantly associated with ready-to-eat products. FAO and WHO have undertaken a risk assessment of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods, prepared and reviewed by an international team of scientists. Input was received from several international fora including expert consultations and Codex Alimentarius committee meetings as well as via public and peer review. This interpretative summary provides an overview of how the risk assessment was undertaken and the results. In particular, it provides information relevant to risk managers addressing problems posed by this pathogen in ready-to-eat foods. It includes answers to the specific risk management questions posed by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene and outlines the issues to be considered when implementing control measures, including the establishment of microbiological criteria.

Cases of listeriosis appear to be predominantly associated with ready-to-eat products. FAO and WHO have undertaken a risk assessment of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods, prepared and reviewed by an international team of scientists. Input was received from several international fora including expert consultations and Codex Alimentarius committee meetings as well as via public and peer review. This technical report provides complete documentation of the risk assessment, the approaches taken, the data and methodology used, and the results. It also contains four example assessments addressing the risk of listeriosis associated with fresh milk, ice cream, fermented meats and cold-smoked fish. These products were selected to represent typical classes of ready-to-eat products.

Recent advances regarding the human foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes are discussed with specific emphasis on epidemiology, ecology and virulence. Recent routine surveillance and outbreak investigation studies indicate a shift in L. monocytogenes serotypes linked to listeriosis in some countries. There is growing evidence to show that L. monocytogenes isolates can be divided beyond the serotype level into at least two epidemiologically and genetically distinct subpopulations differentiated by biologically meaningful markers, including strains responsible for the majority of listeriosis cases and strains carrying virulence attenuating mutations in the key virulence gene inlA, which codes for internalin A.