Susceptibility of Listeria monocytogenes to high pressure processing: A review

ABSTRACT

Listeria monocytogenes has been regarded as an emerging food pathogen responsible for listeriosis, a serious disease given its high mortality rate. The need for better food processing methods has led to an increased interest in high pressure processing (HPP), a novel nonthermal method presented as “producer” of safer food products. This review provides an overview of the effects of HPP on Listeria monocytogenes and on L. innocua, with the latter often used as an amenable surrogate for the pathogenic species. The factors that affect the susceptibility of listeriae to HPP, as well as the long-term implications of postprocessing recovery, are discussed in the perspective of the use of HPP to improve the safety of potential food vehicles.

KEYWORDS:

• Food safety
• high pressure processing (HPP)
• intrinsic and extrinsic factors
• Listeria recovery and resistance development

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Filipa Veirus for the scientific illustration.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank FCT-Portugal, QREN, FEDER, and COMPETE for funding the research units QOPNA (PEst-C/QUI/UI0062/2013; FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037296) and CESAM (Pest-C/MAR/LA0017/2013).