Incidence of Listeria spp. in Pre-cooked, Chilled Chicken Products as Determined by Culture and Enzyme-linked Immunoassay (ELISA)

Abstract
One hundred and two samples of ready-to-eat, pre-cooked, chilled chicken were examined for Listeria spp. using culture and a commercially available enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA). Overall, 29 (28%) samples contained Listeria spp. as determined by culture, Listeria monocytogenes being present in 27 (26.5%) samples. In comparison with culture, the ELISA yielded no false positives. However, the technique detected Listeria spp. in only 24 of 29 culture-positive samples.