Rm. Twedt et al., DETERMINATION OF THE PRESENCE OF LISTERIA-MONOCYTOGENES IN MILK AND DAIRY-PRODUCTS - IDF COLLABORATIVE STUDY, Journal of AOAC International, 77(2), 1994, pp. 395-402
A collaborative study was conducted on the recovery of viable Listeria
monocytogenes from milk and dairy products (Camembert cheese, Limburg
er cheese, skim milk powder, and ice cream). Test portions were homoge
nized with Listeria-selective liquid enrichment medium and cultured at
30 degrees C for 48 h. The enrichment culture was then subcultured on
to a solid isolation medium at 37 degrees C for 48 h. Suspected Lister
ia colonies were identified by appropriate conventional morphological,
physiological, and biochemical tests. Five kinds of dairy matrixes we
re spiked with L. monocytogenes at 2 levels: 12 and 120 colony forming
units (cfu)/25 g. Each of the 18 collaborating laboratories analyzed
15 blind test portions from each matrix, comprising 5 replicates at ea
ch spiking level and 5 uninoculated controls, for a total of 1350 anal
yses. The specificity of the method was 100%; its sensitivity was 94-1
00% at the high spiking level and 89-98% at the low spiking level, exc
ept for Limburger cheese, which was only 68%. No specificity or sensit
ivity differences were observed between laboratories for all matrixes
at the high spiking level and for all except Limburger cheese at the l
ow spiking level. The calculated 50% detection limit for all products
except Limburger cheese was 1.6 cfu/25 g; the 50% detection limit for
Limburger cheese itself was 4.1 cfu/25 g. The method was adopted first
action by AOAC INTERNATIONAL.