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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

 

Logos of the partners involved in the 2023 Listeria Symposium.