Attached you will find a very interesting study that has been done in conjunction with one of the universities – in light of the recent Listeria concerns we felt it necessary to summarize some points.

The good news is we can get add cultures to prevent the growth of Listeria in fact there are a whole range of protective cultures that may be used. These will be summarized in a table format so all understand their impacts.

 Points extracted from article attached:

1. Emerging consumer demands for safe yet minimally processed necessitated development of natural interventions to mitigate the threat of Listeria monocytogenes as a contaminate in dairy.
2. Listeria monocytogenes is a food borne pathogen that is ever-present in agricultural settings including dairy farms, and can cause cross contamination problems in facilities.
3. Many dairy products such as high moisture, low acid cheese only have pasteurization as the control for L. monocytogenes however there is potential for post process contamination thus other strategies must be employed to control that.
4. Natural strategies that meet both consumer demand and maintain safe product are needed such as Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) & their antimicrobial peptides (bacteriocins) as one potential strategy to combat pathogens in moderate to high risk products.
5. University of Connecticut has carried out a study, to evaluate the efficacy of commercially produced protective cultures (of lactic acid bacteria) for controlling Listeria monocytogenes in broth, milk, high moisture cheese.
6. The results have demonstrated that the protective culture treatments have strains capable of reducing L. monocytogenes to below detectable levels within 24 to 48 hours in broth with or without rennet added.
7. Moreover, the protective cultures inhibited growth over 36 days at 7 0C as compared to control.