Genomic Markers for Quaternary Ammonium Compound Resistance as a Persistence Indicator for Listeria monocytogenes Contamination in Food Manufacturing Environments

What is it about?

Bacterial persistence in food manufacturing environments is a major risk for the contamination of foods and consumer exposure to microbial hazards (e.g. Listeria monocytogenes). Persistent contamination of food manufacturing environments poses a major food safety risk because of the difficulty to remediate it using standard sanitation procedures. Biocide resistance genes are recognized as biomarkers for persistent colonization of food contact surfaces and manufacturing environments. Food safety risk management will be impacted by evidence of pathogen persistence because of the potential to affect multiple products. We have sequenced 1463 L. monocytogenes isolates recovered from various foods and food manufacturing environments. Analysis of these sequences identified quaternary ammonium compound (QAC) resistance genes associated with a large proportion of these isolates. We suggest that the determination of biocide resistance genes can be an important adjunct in risk-based inspection.

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