Abstract :
The present investigation was undertaken to study the occurrence of Listeria species in seafoods and to determine the critical control points of the organism in the fish catchment areas of two coastal districts of Kerala, India viz., Kozhikode and Kollam. The occurrence of L. monocytogenes in seafoods and fish catchment areas in the present study was 1.45 per cent and 0.63 per cent, respectively. The isolates of L. monocytogenes were found to possess all virulence gene viz., iap, hlyA, actA, prfA, plcA and inlA. The occurrence of L. innocua was found to be more with detection at the level of 28.92 per cent and 17.50 per cent from samples of seafoods and fish catchment areas, respectively. The assessment of critical control points in fish catchment areas revealed that boat deck, ice, containers and hands of workers were the potential source of contamination of raw seafoods.
Keyword :
Listeria monocytogenes, L. innocua, Kerala, critical control points, seafoods