EVALUATING MICROBIAL RISK ASSOCIATED WITH LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES AND CRYPTOSPORIDIUM PARVUM ON FOOD PROCESSING SURFACES AND IN AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS

The development and implementation of produce safety risk management strategies requires a thorough exploring how microbial contaminants behave on the surfaces of the produce in agricultural farms and during post-harvest processing operations. This study assesses the microbiological risk associated with Listeria monocytogenes on food-contact surfaces employed in food processing plants and Cryptosporidium in agricultural settings. The first part of our study explored the environmental and strain-specific effect on biofilm formation by L. monocytogenes on various surface materials in the food chain, along with assessing the efficiency of sanitizers on the biofilm formed on food contact surfaces, identifying which sanitizers are most efficient in reducing the bacterial load in the biofilms. The findings revealed a significant level of biofilm formation over time (estimates = 0.3358, p0.05). In the second part of the study, we investigated the impact of environmental conditions on the survival of Cryptosporidium oocysts in soil and manure. The results demonstrated a significant impact of environmental factors such as temperature and relative humidity on the viability of the oocysts. The decay rate was significantly faster in manure during summer (k = -0.01379; R2 =0.907) than soil, but there was during winter. Further analysis revealed a significant interaction effect between day, medium, and season. Overall, the findings of this study provide critical insights into the behavior of these microbial contaminants, which may guide the development of more effective risk management and sanitization strategies to enhance produce safety.