Demonstration of Listeria innocua and Escherichia coli growth in ready-to-eat vegan foods

Microbial food safety is the master key for reducing illness caused by the consumption of foodstuffs. This demonstration therefore aims to use non-pathogenic surrogates to draw conclusions whether vegan ready-to-eat model food serves as a base for growth of pathogenic Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes in vegan ready-to-eat meat substitute in case of a potential contamination, causing a reduction of food safety. Packages of ready-to-eat vegan meat substitutes were inoculated with certain level of non-pathogenic L. innocua and E. coli and incubated at varying environmental conditions before they were examined for changes in the physico-chemical properties. The observed ability of the microbes to grow in the snacks may cause a reduction in food safety. This demonstration shows that these ready-to-eat-snacks may cause a reduction in food safety if the product studied is contaminated.