In the past decade, several quantitative models and risk assessments for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Listeria monocytogenes have been developed to guide the management of these pathogens in fresh-produce. However, there is a need to collect and critically review the parameters used to guide their potential reuse in future risk assessments. This review (i) identifies 11 and 7 recently published quantitative models and risk assessments for STEC and L. monocytogenes, respectively, in leafy greens, (ii) summarizes parameters, and (iii) reviews the underlying data sources or mathematical formulas used. A total of 80 key parameters (55 and 25 for STEC and L. monocytogenes, respectively, 10 shared) were extracted from the reviewed models across five supply chain stages, including: Preharvest, Harvest, Processing, Presentation to Consumer (Retail or Foodservice Locations), and Consumer Handling. Primary growth, secondary growth, and dose-response equations and parameters for STEC and L. monocytogenes were also extracted . Additional literature reviews were performed if (i) certain key parameters were based on a single or a few data sources and (ii) key parameters were identified in a supply chain stage for one pathogen, but missing from the other. The critical summaries of parameters presented here (i) provide a resource for future risk assessments, (ii) help define future data collection needs, and (iii) represent a starting point for similar reviews focusing on other produce commodities and pathogens.
You can view the list of authors in the AUTHORS file.
Corresponding author: Matthew J. Stasiewicz
103 Agricultural Bioprocess Lab
1302 W. Pennsylvania
Urbana, IL, 1361801
USA
+1-217-265-0963
[email protected]
The supplemental materials, found in the Supplementary Materials folder for this manuscript include a supplementary materials document and two master Excel spreadsheets: one for the parameter estimates extracted for STEC and one for L. monocytogenes. Clicking on each excel file will prompt you to download the file.
To aid those in accessing the references cited in our manuscript that do not have DOIs, such as government webpages, reports, etc., we have provided the PDFs in a folder here: PDFs for Citations. Documents are named according to their in-text citation and title of document or report (e.g., FDA 2022a - Food Code)
Jung, Y., Pinto, G., Reyes, G., Qian, C., Wiedmann, M., & Stasiewicz, M. J. (2025). A Critical Review of Parameters Relevant for Shiga Toxin-producing Escherichia coli and Listeria monocytogenes Risk Assessments of Leafy Greens. J Food Prot, 88(6), 100497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfp.2025.100497
This project's dataset is licensed the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International license. Please see the LICENSE.dataset files for details.
Funding for the project was made possible by The Center for Produce Safety project 2023CPS08. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of The Center for Produce Safety. (https://www.centerforproducesafety.org/).