Integrative Assessment of Reduced Listeria monocytogenes Susceptibility to Benzalkonium Chloride in Produce Processing Environments.

ABSTRACT: For decades, quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC)-based sanitizers have been broadly used in food processing environments to control foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes. Still, there is a lack of consensus on the likelihood and implication of reduced Listeria susceptibility to benzalkonium chloride (BC) that may emerge due to sublethal exposure to the sanitizers in food processing environments. With a focus on fresh produce processing, we attempted to fill multiple data and evidence gaps surrounding the debate. We determined a strong correlation between tolerance phenotypes and known genetic determinants of BC tolerance with an extensive set of fresh produce isolates. We assessed BC selection on L. monocytogenes through a large-scale and source-structured genomic surve

SUBMITTER: He Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9642021 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature