Listeria monocytogenes is an important pathogen that food processing facilities must manage. Listeria’s survival advantages and the characteristics of food processing environments often provide opportunities for Listeria to set up niches in the facility where they can evade sanitation efforts and contaminate food products.
Addressing Listeria issues in the these settings often involves strategic sampling of the environment as well as final food products to understand the underlying root causes of contamination, followed by corrective actions specific to the context.
This PHO Rounds will provide an overview of Listeria issues encountered in food processing environments and describe efforts to detect, identify root causes of, and control Listeria risks in Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs-regulated facilities.
Intended audience: Public health field staff, public health inspectors, Medical Officer of Health (MOH), Associate Medical Officer of Health (AMOH), public health unit (PHU) staff working in environmental health.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the dangers of Listeria
- Describe the challenges of controlling Listeria in a food production environment
- Discuss the roles of environmental monitoring and root cause analysis to understand Listeria issues in specific food production environments
- Describe strategies for managing Listeria in food production environments
Presenter(s): Troy Jenner
Troy Jenner has a long history in food safety that began with Campbell’s Soup in their quality assurance department. From there he went to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) where he was an architect of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Advantage, an outcome-based HACCP food safety program for provincial food safety processors. For the last decade he has been the Manager of the Food Safety Science Unit, overseeing the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ sampling and testing program, baseline research projects and providing technical support to the inspectorate.
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies or views of Public Health Ontario, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by Public Health Ontario.
Accreditation
Public Health Ontario Rounds are a self-approved group learning activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC). In order to receive written documentation for Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits, please check “Yes” beside the question “Do you require CME credits?” on the registration form.
College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) Affiliate Members may count RCPSC credits toward their Mainpro+ credit requirements. All other CFPC members may claim up to 50 Certified credits per cycle for participation in RCPSC MOC Section 1 accredited activities.
PHO Rounds are also approved by the Council of Professional Experience for professional development hours (PDHs) for members of the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors (CIPHI).
For more information or for a record of registration for other Continuing Education purposes, please contact capacitybuilding@oahpp.ca.
Accessibility
Public Health Ontario is committed to complying with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). If you require accommodations to participate in this event, please contact 647-260-7100 or capacitybuilding@oahpp.ca.
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