Listeriosis, salmonellosis and verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli: significance and contamination in processed meats.

Abstract: Processed meat is a main source and route of infection by foodborne pathogens. The control of hygiene from farm to fork cannot be emphasised enough either by legislation or by continuous educating and training. Monitoring and sampling are of paramount importance for complete food chain control and management and in particular a reliable cold chain recording system under legislative control is necessary. Many worldwide standard food operation guidelines are in place to ensure food standards. In spite of this there are still increased incidences of infection due to select microorganisms. Climate changes may alter the pathogen profile in some areas. The changes in farm stocking densities have led to the emergence of Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Choleraesuis (S. Choleraesuis), a respiratory animal pathogen. Food processing increases the probability of foodborne illnesses due to increased opportunity of the organism to spread and sequester in the processed food matrix. This chapter will review the significant number of select organisms that cause disease in meat processed foods. The importance of the ability of many microbes to form viable but non-culturable forms will be discussed.