EFSA and ECDC have just published the European Union summary report on trends and sources of zoonoses, zoonotic agents and food-borne outbreaks in 2017: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/181212 It includes a chapter on Listeria (Chapter 3, p. 67-85) for whose drafting we have collaborated with EFSA. Cases of listeriosis decreased slightly in 2017: 2,480 infections were reported, against 2,509 in 2016. However, the trend has been upward over the past five years. The group most...

Hélène BERGIS participated to the meeting of the WG 19 of ISO /TC 34/SC 9 in charge of writting the second part of ISO 20976-2 "Microbiology of the food chain - Guidelines for conducting challenge tests - Part 2: Inactivation". This meeting was held in Avignon (France) on 13-15 November. This working group is also in charge of drafting a standard on "Determination and use of cardinal values".

A training session was organised on 6-7 December in Maisons-Alfort (FR) by EURL for Lm (Hélène BERGIS, Ludivine BONANNO & Pauline ROBIN). It was dedicated to challenge tests assessing the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat food. This training session was requested by the Lithuanian NRL and the two trainees were Jovita PETRUSKEVICIENE & Audinga VERBICKIENE from the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute.    

Bertrand LOMBARD convened the 28th meeting of WG 2 Statistics of ISO/TC 34/SC 9 "Food products-Microbiology", held at Campden BRI, Campden UK, on 18-19 October. The main topic on the agenda was the revision of ISO/TS 19036, dealing with measurement uncertainty for quantitative determinations. This project is led by Basi JARVIS (Project Leader), Keith JEWEL and Paul IN'T VELD (co-Project Leaders). More precisely, WG 2 has given a follow-up to the ISO/CEN vote on ISO/DIS 19036...

The working group composed by volunteering LNRs or representants of competent authorities from Italy, Belgium, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands met from 20 to 22 november in Maisons-Alfort. Ludivine BONANNO & Hélène BERGIS have chaired this meeting which aim was to finalise the training package for shelf life studies dedicated to Lm. We are happy to inform you that the package should by finalised by the end of the year.    

ECDC and EFSA have published on 25/10/2018 a Rapid Outbreak Assessment. Please find the links on EFSA website: the news, the report.

We hope your summer period is going on nicely, with some time to rest! We are pleased to inform you that Marie-Christine SALVI is back to Anses since mid-July, with now a long-term contract.  She is in particular back in the EURL CPS & Lm teams, in charge of administrative and financial aspects. She is doing her best to proceed as soon as possible with the reimbursement of eligible participants to the 2018 workshops and training courses.

We are pleased to inform you that the revision of EURL Lm Guidance document on the competence of laboratories implementing shelf-life studies (Version 2 – 7 May 2018) has been adopted by EC Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee) at its meeting of 3 May 2018. This document is now available on our homepage or link hereafter.

As an update on the investigation  of the multi-country outbreak of Lm serogroup IVb/ST 6 infections linked to frozen corn and possibly to other frozen vegetables, please find the link to two reports recently published: 1st  update of EFSA-ECDC Rapid Outbreak Assessment : http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/supporting/pub/en-1448 EFSA Technical Report: Urgent scientific and technical assistance to provide recommendations for sampling and testing in the processing plants of frozen...

EFSA published the technical report of the urgent scientific and technical assistance to provide recommendations for sampling and testing in the processing plants of frozen vegetables aiming at detecting Listeria monocytogenes. EURL Lm participate to this work as expert.