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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Prevention
By Mayo Clinic staffTo prevent a listeria infection, follow simple food safety guidelines:
- Wash your hands, utensils and food surfaces often. To prevent cross-contamination — the transfer of harmful bacteria from one surface to another — wash your hands thoroughly with warm, soapy water before and after handling or preparing food, especially raw meat, poultry, fish, shellfish and eggs. After cooking, use hot, soapy water to wash the utensils, cutting board and other food preparation surfaces.
- Separate raw foods from ready-to-eat foods. When shopping, separate meat and poultry products from the rest of your groceries. At home, tightly wrap raw meat packages in plastic bags to prevent leaking juices from contaminating other food. Use separate cutting boards for raw meat and ready-to-eat foods, such as bread and vegetables. Use separate plates for raw meat and cooked meat.
- Wash raw vegetables thoroughly before eating. Clean raw vegetables with a scrub brush or vegetable brush under plenty of running water.
- Cook your food thoroughly. Use a food thermometer to make sure your meat, poultry and egg dishes are cooked to a safe temperature.
- Refrigerate or freeze perishable foods promptly. Harmful bacteria can reproduce rapidly if foods aren't properly cooled. Set your refrigerator to 40 F (4 C) or cooler. When shopping, select perishable food last to minimize time away from the refrigerator or freezer.
- Avoid unpasteurized milk and milk products. Don't drink raw milk or eat any products made with unpasteurized milk.
Precautions for people particularly at risk
If you're at risk of a listeria infection — you're pregnant or you have a weak immune system — you may want to be particularly cautious about listeria. Take additional precautions with these types of foods:
- Soft cheeses and Mexican-style cheeses. Don't eat soft cheeses such as feta, Brie, Camembert, blue cheese, and Mexican-style cheeses such as queso blanco and queso fresco, unless it's clear from the packaging that the product was made using pasteurized milk.
- Hot dogs, luncheon meats and deli meats. Avoid hot dogs, luncheon meats and deli meats, unless they're reheated until steaming hot. Keep fluid from hot dog packages away from other foods, utensils and food preparation surfaces. Wash your hands after handling hot dogs, luncheon meats or deli meats.
- Meat spreads. Don't eat refrigerated pates or meat spreads. Canned or shelf-stable pates and meat spreads are acceptable.
- Refrigerated smoked seafood. Don't eat refrigerated smoked seafood. Such products may be labeled as nova-style, lox, kippered or jerky. One exception is if you're using these products in a casserole or other cooked dish. Canned or shelf-stable smoked seafood is acceptable.
References
- Bortolussi R. Listeriosis: a primer. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2008; 179:795.
- Listeriosis. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/listeriosis_gi.html. Accessed Feb. 12, 2009.
- Listeria: Frequently asked questions. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~pregnant/whillist.html. Accessed Feb. 12, 2009.
- Gelfand MS. Treatment, prognosis, and prevention of Listeria monocytogenes infection. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 12, 2009.
