Sensitivity of Listeria monocytogenes to sanitizers used in the meat processing industry
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 28, 2026

Tracking Microbial Contamination in Retail Environments Using Fluorescent Powder - A Retail Delicatessen Environment Example
Published on: March 5, 2014
Nadya Romanova1, Stacy Favrin, Mansel W Griffiths
1Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.
Abstract:
Nineteen Listeria monocytogenes strains were characterized by automated ribotyping, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and plasmid profiling to determine the relationship between genotype and sanitizer resistance. Isolates within a ribogroup had a consistent sensitivity or resistance phenotype except for ribogroup C isolates. All isolates with resistance phenotypes harbored two plasmids. The sensitivity of L. monocytogenes strains to quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) was correlated with sensitivity to sanitizers and antibiotics with other modes of action. All isolates tested contained the mdrL gene, which encodes an efflux pump that confers resistance to QACs and is both chromosome and plasmid borne.
Related Concept Videos
Clinical Significance of Antibiotic Resistance
Physical Methods for Controlling Microbial Growth: Temperature
Sources of Food Contamination
Microbes in the Production of Fermented Foods
Microbes in Food Production
Pasteurization and Food Preservation

