Listeria species in raw and ready-to-eat foods on the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Listeria is a food-borne pathogen that poses a great threat to human health. Severe symptoms followed by a high mortality rate are mainly caused by L. monocytogenes. Despite the zero-tolerance policy, the genus Listeria is still present in raw and ready-to-eat food. There are no recent studies regarding contamination of food with Listeria species in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This research is focused on obtaining basic information on the level of food contamination with this alarming pathogen. In this study, a total of 238 samples were analysed, where 105 samples were various types of raw food and 133 samples were ready-to-eat foods, and 18 samples tested positive for Listeria species. After isolation and detection, the confirmation of positive isolates of Listeria spp. was conducted using the biochemical kit API ® Listeria .