Pesquisa de listeria monocytogenes em queijo muçarela fatiado comercializado em estabelecimentos varejistas na cidade de Goiânia, GO

Abstract

Listeria monocytogenes is the agent of listeriosis, a serious disease with opportunistic character that affects pregnant women, newborns, elderly people and immunocompromised. Foods are the major vehicles to L. monocytogenes transmission, being considered as high risk especially the ones that are ready to eat (RTE), with long shelf life under refrigeration and consumed without heating, as dairy products. The aim of this work was to verify the presence of L. monocytogenes in sliced mozzarella cheese, sold in retail outlets of Goiânia, GO. 34 samples of the product were acquired in supermarkets and bakeries and sent for analysis at the Laboratory for Research on Quality Control of Food and Drugs, Faculty of Pharmacy, Federal University of Goiás. The analyzes were conducted according to the Food and Drug Administration protocol, and the Api Listeria kit was used to confirm the results. The presence of L. monocytogenes was verified in four (11,75%) from the 34 samples of mozzarella sliced cheese evaluated and L. innocua in one (2,9%). In Brazil, it has not yet been possible to establish the relationship between food and listeriosis. However, the results of this study showed that the sliced mozzarella cheese could act as an important vehicle for transmission of the bacteria, constituting thus risk to consumers.