Attachment of Listeria monocytogenes to stainless steel, glass, polypropylene, and rubber surfaces after short contact times

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the attachment capabilities of Listeria monocytogenes strain Scott A to stainless steel, glass, polypropylene, and rubber surfaces after short contact times at ambient (20°C) and cold storage temperatures (4°C) using scanning electron microscopy technique. Surface energy value of each surface was estimated by contact angle measurements. All surfaces displayed many possible harborages for L. monocytogenes attachment. Our results indicated that L. monocytogenes cells could attach to all surface types at both temperatures after contact times as short as 20 min or 1 h. Extracellular materials could be observed on the surfaces especially polypropylene and glass incubated at 4 and 20°C for 1 h respectively.