Listeria in Beverages: Prevalence and Control

Dear Colleagues,

Listeria monocytogenes is a serious challenge for food manufacturers, including beverage producers. The ability of this bacterium to prevail in the food processing environment is well known. Beverages, in general, can be produced from a large variety of raw material, including of animal origin (e.g., milk), fermented cereals (e.g., beer), fruit juices and vegetable drinks, and all of these products are likely to be contaminated by L. monocytogenes.  New trends in the consumption of healthy drinks made from fruit, raw vegetables, and vegetable drinks to replace the consumption of milk of animal origin require new approaches in monitoring and maintaining the food safety of these products. The consumption of this type of drink is not only claimed by the consumer who asks for minimally-processed foods but also by those with weakned health. Therefore, the evaluation of the risk of contamination of these products by L. monocytogenes is particularly critical. Innovative treatments that ensure the absence of this bacterium are crucial.

For this Special Issue on “Listeria in Beverages: Prevalence and Control”, we would like to invite submissions that show how the evaluation of the incidence of L. monocytogenes in beverages is being performed and new approaches to control its presence.

Original research and review papers are welcome on the topics of:

• Prevalence of Listeria spp. in beverages, including fruit, vegetables juices and drinks
• Methods of detection and quantification
• Physiological responses of L. monocytogenes to beverages processing conditions
• Modelling L. monocytogenes growth in beverages
• Risk assessment
• Treatments and combination of treatments to control listerial growth in beverages
• Sanitation measures to control L. monocytogenes in beverages production

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Beverages is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.