Search

Thermal resistance among Salmonella serovars has been shown to vary, however, such data are minimal for Salmonella inoculated onto low moisture foods. We evaluated survival and subsequent thermal resistance for 32 strains of Salmonella from four serovars (Agona, Enteritidis, Montevideo, and Tennessee) on flaxseed over 24 weeks. After inoculation, flaxseeds were adjusted to aw = 0.5 and stored at 22 °C. After 24 weeks at 22 °C, strains of serovar Agona had a significantly slower rate of reduction compared to those of Enteritidis and Montevideo (adj. p

Aims Listeria monocytogenes nisin resistance increases when first exposed to NaCl and other stresses, such as low pH. In addition to environmental stressors, specific genomic elements can confer nisin resistance, such as the stress survival islet (SSI-1). As SSI-1 is variably present among L. monocytogenes strains, we wanted to determine if SSI-1 was associated with salt-induced nisin resistance. Methods and Results The presence of SSI-1 was determined using PCR for 48 strains of L. monocytogenes. When combined with multi-locus sequence typing data, we found that the distribution of SSI-1 is clonal, where strains from clonal complexes (CC) 2, 6 and 11 do not have SSI-1, while strains from CCs 3, 5, 7 and 9 contain SSI-1. The impact of SSI-1 on salt-induced nisin resistance was dependent on CC. The average log decrease after 24 h exposure to nisin at 7°C under salt-inducing conditions was 2.6 ± 1.1 for CC 9 strains and 2.3 ± 0.7 for CC 11 strains, which was significantly lower survival compared to the other CCs, such as 1.3 ± 0.3 for CC 6. Deletion of SSI-1 from a CC 7 strain demonstrated the role SSI-1 plays in salt-induced nisin resistance, as the deletion mutant had lower resistance compared to the parent strain. Conclusions These data suggest that inducible nisin resistance in L. monocytogenes can be influenced by environmental conditions as well as the genetic composition of the strain, which should be considered when selecting control measures for ready-to-eat foods. Significance and impact of the study The foodborne pathogen L. monocytogenes can grow in suboptimal conditions, including low temperature and high osmolarity, which makes it a safety concern for ready-to-eat foods. When using antimicrobial peptide inhibitors such as nisin, it is important to understand how food components can impact antimicrobial resistance across the genetic diversity of L. monocytogenes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.