Incidence of Listeria monocytogenes in different types of meat products on the Belgian retail market

A survey was undertaken to determine the incidence and numbers of L. monocytogenes in a variety of meat products (cooked meat products, raw cured meat products (dried or not), mayonnaise based salads and prepared meals). As expected, raw cured meat products were significantly higher contaminated with L. monocytogenes than cooked meat products, 13.71% (113/824) and 4.90% (167/3405), respectively. Also a larger proportion of raw cured meat product samples contained a high initial level of the pathogen ( > 10 cfu/g). Higher incidence rates were obtained for whole cooked meat products (e.g. cooked ham, bacon) after slicing than before slicing, 6.65 and 1.56%, respectively, indicating cross-contamination. Due to multiple handling and processing steps, the incidence rate of the pathogen was higher for cooked minced meat products than for whole cooked meat products, 6.14 and 3.96%, respectively. No significant differences were obtained in the incidence of L. monocytogenes in whole cured meat products (e.g., raw ham) and minced cured meat products (e.g., dry fermented sausage), 14.92 and 11.69%, respectively. Lower incidence rates of L. monocytogenes were obtained for raw, cured meat products using beef or horse meat, 4.65 and 5.88%, respectively, A high incidence rate of L. monocytogenes was noted for the mayonnaise based salads (21.28% (186/874)) as well as for prepared meals (11.70% (92/786)), the latter especially due to contamination of vegetarian meals.