{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T04:56:58Z","timestamp":1787029018155,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,14]],"date-time":"2020-03-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1584144000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment","award":["1322-668"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1322-668"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Foodborne infection with Listeria causes potentially life-threatening disease listeriosis. Listeria monocytogenes is widely recognized as the only species of public health concern, and the closely related species Listeria innocua is commonly used by the food industry as an indicator to identify environmental conditions that allow for presence, growth, and persistence of Listeria spp. in general. In our study, we analyze the occurrence of Listeria spp. in a farm-to-fork approach in a poultry production chain in Egypt and identify bacterial entry gates and transmission systems. Prevalence of Listeria innocua at the three production stages (farm, slaughterhouse, food products) ranged from 11% to 28%. The pathogenic species Listeria monocytogenes was not detected, and Listeria innocua strains under study did not show genetic virulence determinants. However, the close genetic relatedness of Listeria innocua isolates (maximum 63 SNP differences) indicated cross-contamination between all stages from farm to final food product. Based on these results, chicken can be seen as a natural source of Listeria. Last but not least, sanitary measures during production should be reassessed to prevent bacterial contamination from entering the food chain and to consequently prevent human listeriosis infections. For this purpose, surveillance must not be restricted to pathogenic species.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms8030414","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,17]],"date-time":"2020-03-17T09:27:41Z","timestamp":1584437261000},"page":"414","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Contamination Pathways can Be Traced along the Poultry Processing Chain by Whole Genome Sequencing of Listeria innocua"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6312-4703","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mayada","family":"Gwida","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Hygiene and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6321-3869","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefanie","family":"L\u00fcth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Max-Dohrn-Stra\u00dfe 8-10, 10589 Berlin, Germany"},{"name":"Institute for Biology, Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, K\u00f6nigin-Luise-Stra\u00dfe 1-3, 14195 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3217-9864","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maged","family":"El-Ashker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Infectious and Fish Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amira","family":"Zakaria","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food Hygiene and Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0378-8599","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fatma","family":"El-Gohary","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Hygiene and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mona","family":"Elsayed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Hygiene and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sylvia","family":"Kleta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Max-Dohrn-Stra\u00dfe 8-10, 10589 Berlin, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3835-0818","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sascha","family":"Al Dahouk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Max-Dohrn-Stra\u00dfe 8-10, 10589 Berlin, Germany"},{"name":"RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Pauwelsstra\u00dfe 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1236","DOI":"10.1016\/j.micinf.2007.05.011","article-title":"The epidemiology of human listeriosis","volume":"9","author":"Swaminathan","year":"2007","journal-title":"Microbes Infect."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1128\/CMR.4.2.169","article-title":"Epidemiology of human listeriosis","volume":"4","author":"Schuchat","year":"1991","journal-title":"Clin. 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