New risk elements of Listeria as a result of fish processing and adaptation of fish products to current food trends

The products exported from Norwegian fish industry are mainly standard products like fillets, gutted fish and salt-cured products. Due to current food trends like ?convenient food? and ?exotic food?, secondary processing to more differentiated products ha ve become common, and the fish is also used in ?new? dishes, like sushi. Resent research has shown that Norwegian fish products contain latent risks that can be easily controlled as long as the fish is used the traditional way, but may become significant when processed or preserved to ready-to-use products or consumed raw. Low levels of Listeria monocytogenes in the fish after slaughtering, filleting and salt-curing are examples of this. The objective of the present project is to bring up knowledge and tools to manage these new risks. Experimental studies of whether processing and new use of fish lead to changes abilities of Listeria that may affect its potential to cause illness will be carried out, focusing on the following properties: growth kinetics of Listeria and spoilage bacteria in various fish products, the ability to survive stomach acid conditions, and the expression of some virulence genes. A system based approach to hazard characterisation will be performed in the beginning of the project, and tools for risk management in a farm-to-fork perspective will be developed.