Articles by Henry Randolph

The dairy industry has learned quite a bit about Listeria since a major outbreak in 1985. Controlling Listeria is an issue of effective cleaning, not sanitizer effectiveness.

Listeria monocytogenes (L. mono)is a gram-positive bacterium and a specific member of the Listeria family. It is capable of causing severe illness and even death. The mortality rate from L. monoin susceptible populations is one of the highest of any known food pathogen. Individuals with compromised immune systems are particularly vulnerable.

Effective training of plant and quality assurance personnel is essential to achieving quality and food safety standards. The training should involve both technical and practical applications of the process. In addition, it must involve all employees, especially Bubba and his counterparts — Junior, Leroy, “They” and “Supposed To.”