Abstract:To qualitatively analyze the cross-contamination of Listeria monocytogenes from raw to cooked food on cutting boards of different materials, wooden, plastic, and stainless steel cutting boards were selected for this study. Four common scenarios were set up, and the contamination levels (lgCFU/g) of L. monocytogenes in marinated pig tongue, cucumber, and on cutting boards under different scenarios were measured. At the same time, the modified first-order Baranyi model and second order main parameter model were used to simulate the growth of L. monocytogenes in cucumber. Additionally, the contamination level of the whole cross-contamination process was calculated according to food safety objective (FSO) theory; 2 lgCFU/g was set as the standard value for the FSO of L. monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods and was compared with 12 cross-contamination scenarios, i.e., four scenarios using three materials, and the corresponding risks were ranked. The results showed that the wooden cutting board scenario 1 (S1w), plastic cutting board scenario 1 (S1p) and stainless steel cutting board scenario 1 (S1s) showed the highest risk. Under scenarios 2, 3, and 4, the risk levels of wooden cutting boards were 2, 3, and 3, respectively, which were one risk level higher than those of the cutting boards of the other two materials. In conclusion, this study showed that cross-contamination was most likely caused by the use of the cutting boards without any cleaning treatment, and the risk from the wooden cutting board was higher than that of the cutting boards of the other two materials.
