2023 Symposium on Listeria monocytogenes in Foods
Recent Advances and Outstanding Questions
Teagasc and its research partners (UCD, UCC, UG, and UL), funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and in association with the EFSA funded Partnering Grant, ListeriaPredict, were delighted to invite scientists from academia and industry to Ireland for the 2023 Symposium on Listeria monocytogenes in Foods: Recent Advances and Outstanding Questions. This 2-day symposium will took place from 24-25 May 2023 at Teagasc Food Research Centre – Ashtown in Dublin, Ireland.
The aim of the symposium was to bring together researchers interested in all aspects of Listeria monocytogenes in foods to share their latest results, develop new collaborations and reinvigorate networks. Themes included stress response and virulence, persistence in the food processing environment, predictive modelling in food systems as well as updates from regulatory agencies and other stakeholders.
Programme
Download Listeria 2023_Programme and Abstracts [pdf]
Click here for speaker biographies. Presentations labelled [PDF] are available to download.
Day 1: Wednesday, 24th May
08.00-09.00: Registration
09.00-09.15: Welcome and opening remarks- Olivia McAuliffe, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ireland
Session 1: Molecular Mechanisms Underpinning Responses to Food Preservation Stress
09.15-09.45: New insights into food preservation stress responses in Listeria monocytogenes using comparative genomics [PDF]– Conor O’Byrne, University of Galway, Ireland
09.45-10.15: Cyclic di-AMP, an essential signalling nucleotide of central metabolism and osmolyte homeostasis in Listeria monocytogenes [PDF] – Fabian Commichau, University of Hoffenheim, Germany
10.15-10.45: Disarming Listeria monocytogenes of its virulence factors using medium- and long-chain fatty acids- Birgitte Kallipolitis, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Coffee break and poster session
Session 2: The Fresh Produce Sector- An Emerging Risk
11.15-11.45: Listeria monocytogenes in the processing environment of fruits and vegetables: the known knowns and the known unknowns of environment contamination [PDF]– Ana Allende, CEBAS-CSIC- Spanish National Research Council, Spain
11.45-12.15: Growth of Listeria monocytogenes on spinach and rocket leaves is affected by cultivation conditions and the vegetable phytobiome [PDF] – Achim Schmalenberger, University of Limerick, Ireland
12.15-12.45: Supporting the fresh produce sector to prevent Listeria monocytogenes contamination- Kaye Burgess, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ireland
12.45-13.00: Flash Presentations Session 1
- Growth potential of Listeria monocytogenes on ready-to-eat fresh produce in ambient conditions- Elena-Alexandra Alexa, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Dublin, Ireland
- Survival of Listeria monocytogenes in fermented pepperoni with modified formulations and process parameters – Shannon Heapes, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Dublin, Ireland
- Population structure and macroevolution of Listeria monocytogenes CC121 in the UK- Ana Victoria Gutiérrez, Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK
Lunch
Session 3: Growth Behaviour of Listeria monocytogenes: Predictive Modelling
14.00-14.30: Predictive modelling of Listeria monocytogenes: integrative models and variability- Jesus Frias, Technological University Dublin, Ireland
14.30-15.00: Modelling the growth of Listeria monocytogenes: what we have learned from the ListeriaPredict project [PDF] – Francis Butler & Kevin Hunt, University College Dublin, Ireland
15.00-15.30: Proteomic profiling of a virulent Listeria monocytogenes strain grown under several stress conditions [PDF] – Federico d’Onofrio, University of Teramo, Italy
Coffee break and poster session
Session 4: Listeria monocytogenes: Virulence and Ecology
16.00-16.30: The gastrointestinal phase of Listeria monocytogenes infection-Cormac Gahan, University College Cork, Ireland
16.30-17.00: The diverse ecology of Listeria monocytogenes– niche adaptation for different lifestyles The diverse ecology of Listeria monocytogenes- niche adaptation for different lifestyles [PDF]– Ed Fox, Northumbria University, UK
17.00-17.30: Utilising WGS to predict the heightened risk to food producers of certain Listeria monocytogenes strains- Nick Andrews, Dawn Farm Foods, Ireland
17.30-17.45: Flash Presentations Session 2
- Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) modulate growth, virulence expression and host-pathogen interactions in Listeria monocytogenes- Miguel Villoria Recio, APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Ireland
- Effects of chitin on Listeria monocytogenes pathogenicity- Monica Cazzaniga, APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Ireland
- Genomic characterisation of long-time persistent Listeria monocytogenes strains in cheese production facilities- Elisabet Marti, Food Microbial Systems, Agroscope, 3003 Bern, Switzerland
Day 2: Thursday, 25th May
Session 5: Listeria monocytogenes: Detection, Infection and Control
09.00-09.30: Listeria monocytogenes: A regulatory perspective [PDF] – Mary Lenahan, Food Safety Authority of Ireland
09.30-10.00: Listeriosis- An Irish Clinical Perspective [PDF] – Martin Cormican, Galway University Hospital & University of Galway, Ireland
10.00-10.30: Novel antibacterials targeting the transcriptional regulators PrfA and BrtA [PDF]– Jörgen Johansson, Umeå University, Sweden
10.30-10.45: Flash Presentations Session 3
- An epidemiological review of listeriosis in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon (2010 to 2023)- Donna Kilmartin, Department of Public Health, Merlin Park University Hospital, Galway
- Reported foodborne outbreaks related to Listeria monocytogenes in Belgium between 2016 and 2023- Marie Polet, SCIENSANO, NRL for Listeria monocytogenes, Brussels, Belgium
- Employing next-generation sequencing to elucidate the Welsh food listerial landscape- Joshua A Macleod, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales
Coffee and poster break
Session 6: Growth Behaviour of Listeria monocytogenes in RTE Foods and the Processing Environment
11.15-11.45: Listeria monocytogenes in cheese- a model for determining the level of undissociated lactic acid in cheese and predicting growth inhibition [PDF] – Marjon Wells- Bennik, NIZO, Netherlands
11.45-12.15: Growth of Listeria in plant-based milk alternatives [PDF] – Michael Callanan, Munster Technological University, Ireland
12.15-12.45: Growth behaviour of Listeria monocytogenes in semi-soft rind-ripened artisinal cheese at cold chain and abuse temperatures [PDF] – Peter Myintzaw, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ireland
12.45-13.15: Listeria biofilms: challenges and opportunities for their detection and study- Antonio Lourenco, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ireland
13.15-13.35: Flash Presentations Session 4
- Controlling Listeria monocytogenes risk: Update of online risk assessment tools to help producers of smoked fish- Karen Pearson, Food Standards Scotland, Pilgrim House, Aberdeen, Scotland
- Which is the Listeria monocytogenes growth risk in RTE plant-based meat analogues? – Anne Jofré, Food Safety and Functionality Programme, IRTA, Finca Camps i Armet, 17121-Monells, Spain
- Molecular characterisation of Listeria monocytogenes isolates received by the National Reference Laboratory in 2021- Brian Byrne, Food Microbiology Division, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), Ireland
