CSU Listeria study garners $2-million grant

FORT COLLINS, COLO. - 11/03/2005 - Animal sciences professor John Sofos and his research team at Colorado State University, were awarded $2 million to study how to control the transmission of Listeria in food-processing and foodservice facilities.

There are about 2,500 cases of food-borne illnesses caused by Listeria monocytogenes each year result in about 500 deaths. The bacterium also can induce meningitis in people with a weakened immune system and miscarriages and stillbirths in infected pregnant women.

About one-third of all Listeria cases are recorded in pregnant women, and the mortality rate is about 20 percent to 30 percent.

"Food-borne illness from Listeria has the most significant impact on pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and adults with weakened immune systems," Sofos says.

In the last several years, large-scale outbreaks have led to initiatives, including a new regulation for, within the regulatory agencies and the food industry, to control the presence of the bacterium and prevent its survival and growth in ready-to-eat products.

The National Integrated Food Safety Initiative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which will fund the project through September 2009, awarded the grant.