listeria

See also: Listeria and listéria

English

A listeria monocytogenes bacterium, magnified 41,250 times

From the genus name Listeria.

listeria (plural listeria)

Any rod-shaped, gram-positive bacterium, of the genus Listeria, especially those responsible for the bacterial infection listeriosis.
Synonym: listerella
- (Can we date this quote?), Kaarin Goodburn, “How chilled is your fridge?”, in Food Standards Agency‎:
  One of the main reasons fridge temperatures are recommend to be set at 5ºC is because of listeria. Listeria is a food poisoning bacterium that is psychrotrophic – in other words it likes cold temperatures. From the growth models, we know that listeria grows nearly twice as fast at 8°C as it does at 5°C, hence the recommended 5ºC, which helps keep us safe from listeria.