The level of exposure of Brie de Meaux cheese made from raw milk to Listeria monocytogenes is influenced by a number of factors along the farm-to-fork continuum, starting at farm level, then in the factory and finally at the cheese consumer level. The data, that concerned a particular group of farms delivering milk to a single cheese plant, were used to build a quantitative exposure assessment model, that will be of use for evaluating the risk of listeriosis in French consumers. In the present paper, the exposure to L. monocytogenes was studied for cheese made with tanker truck milk in which these bacteria were detected yet at a very low level.

Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort (Veterinary school of Alfort)