Abstract:The quality of different brands of commercially available Chinese National Standard (CNS) test media for Listeria monocytogenes (LM) was compared by investigating the enrichment effects of the media on LM and non-LM bacterial strains. Using the spiral spread count method, the growth of 30 LM strains and nine non-LM strains in four brands of the Listeria enrichment broths LB1 and LB2, six brands of PALCAM agar media, and six brands of Listeria chromogenic media was quantitatively determined. Experimental results showed that the average concentrations of the 30 LM strains were 2.04×108~4.59×108 CFU/mL in the four brands of LB1 enrichment broths and 2.36×107~2.69×107 CFU/mL in the LB2 enrichment broths. The average growth rate was 0.55 in PALCAM agar medium D but exceeded 0.85 in the remaining five brands of PALCAM agar media and all six brands of Listeria chromogenic media. Significant differences were observed in the enrichment effects of the 30 LM strains in the Listeria enrichment broths (LB1 and LB2), PALCAM agar media, and Listeria chromogenic media (p<0.05). The enrichment effects of the four brands of Listeria enrichment broths differed significantly from those of the six brands of PALCAM agar media and six brands of Listeria chromogenic media (p<0.01). Our results indicate that quality varies considerably among the various commercially available CNS test media for LM.