Listeria monocytogenes in Aquatic Food Products—A Review

Abstract With the increased demand for lightly preserved and/or ready‐to‐eat (RTE) food products, the prevalence of the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes has increased, which is a public health concern. The goal for this review is to discuss the incidence, epidemiological importance, and contamination routes of L. monocytogenes in various aquatic ecosystems, seafood products, and processing environments and to summarize the data obtained since the 1990s. L. monocytogenes primarily enters the food‐production chain by cross‐contamination in production plants, making this pathogen a major threat to the seafood industry. This pathogen generally contaminates food products at low or moderate levels, but the levels involved in listeriosis outbreaks are significantly higher. The majority of isolates from aquatic products belong to serotype 1/2a, and outbreaks have been linked to highly similar or even indistinguishable strains. Several seafood‐processing plants are colonized by specific “in‐house” flora containing special DNA subtypes of L. monocytogenes . In such cases, L. monocytogenes populations can persist and/or multiply despite the inherent obstacles to their growth in food preservation and manufacturing operations. Therefore, food‐processing facilities must be designed carefully with an emphasis on effective cleaning and disinfecting operations in the production line.