Isolation of Listeria from French meat products.

One hundred and ten Listeria strains were recovered from 378 meat samples: L. monocytogenes (68 strains), L. innocua (45) and L. welshimeri (7). L. monocytogenes isolates mainly belonged to serogroup 1/2 (1/2: 23 strains; 1/2b: 1; 1/2c: 43; 4b: 1). These results contrast those observed for 355 human strains isolated during the same period in France where serovar 4b strains were largely predominant (66.5%). 45% of the strains were phage typable. These results underline the widespread occurrence of Listeria in meat products.