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Listeria is a really fascinating bug in the sense that it is a bug that has become really
part of the modern human existence. What I mean by that is it is really part of a refrigerated
society. Listeria loves refrigerator temperatures. Unlike these other bacteria that don’t do
well in a refrigerated context - they don’t grow when refrigerated, they grow at room
temperature - Listeria grows at refrigerator temperature which makes that bacteria incredibly
difficult to deal with, and that’s why the government has moved towards zero tolerance
to Listeria on food items that are likely to go in our refrigerator like cheeses or
deli meats. And it’s why women, especially pregnant women, have a long list of products
that are recommended not to eat which includes soft cheeses and deli meats primarily because
of the risk of Listeriosis being transferred to the fetus and causing a miscarriage. Refrigeration,
clearly for all of us, has been a wonderful thing but it has not come without risks, and
the risk is that a bacteria found a niche that worked for it, and so people really need
to pay attention to what’s inside their refrigerator. Knowing that deli meat - that
you might keep it longer because you’re refrigerating it may not necessarily be the
best idea. Maybe buy less deli meat and using it more promptly, really thinking twice about
the types of cheeses that you buy, especially as it relates to raw milk cheeses or soft
cheeses, and how you might keep those in the refrigerator. You can imagine having a good
blue cheese stuck in the back of your refrigerator for months and if it’s not contaminated
with Listeria, no harm no foul. But if there’s some level of Listeria, if there was a something
in the manufacturing process that allowed this fecal bacteria to get in or on that cheese,
once it gets in your refrigerator it’s just going to grow and the more bacteria the more
likely it is that you’re going to get sick.