Poultry processing plants can become colonized with Listeria monocytogenes, resulting in
long-term residence in floor drains. Earlier work showed that water spray into a contaminated
floor drain causes airborne dissemination of a nonvirulent surrogate, Listeria innocua. The objective
of the current study was to determine the extent to which a hose spray can result in the
transfer of L. innocua from an established floor drain biofilm to raw poultry meat. Model floor
drains were inoculated and subjected to a 2-s water spray during which broiler breast fillets
were left uncovered on a table 2.4 m away. Other fillets were indirectly exposed by placement
on the table 10 min after the drain spray. The number of Listeria on each fillet was determined
on the day of exposure and after 4 d of refrigerated storage. An average of approximately 18
Listeria cells was detected per air-exposed filet; about half that number was detected on indirectly
exposed fillets. The number of Listeria did not change substantially during 4 d of cold
storage. An inadvertent 2-s spray into a contaminated floor drain could result in transfer of low
numbers of Listeria to raw meat on a work surface.