Fewstudies on the use of reuterin as a hurdle technology against L. monocytogenes in food products have been published. In the present work, counts of L. monocytogenes in inoculated coldsmoked salmon were on average 5.2 log CFU/g. At 8 C, the pathogen grewup to 7.1 log CFU/g after 15 d of storage. L. monocytogenes growth was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced by reuterin application, with levels in treated salmon 0.5 and 2.0 log units lower than in control samples after 7 and 15 d at 8 C, respectively. At 30 C, counts of L. monocytogenes in control smoked salmon increased by 2.1 and 3.0 log units after 24 and 48 h, respectively. Reuterin maintained pathogen levels below the initial counts during 8 h at 30 C. Afterwards the growth was resumed, although L. monocytogenes counts were 1.4 and 0.9 log CFU/g lower than
those registered in control salmon after 24 and 48 h of storage at 30 C, respectively. The biopreservative added to cold-smoked salmon at 10 AU/g maintained pathogen levels below the initial counts during 15 d at 8 C and 8 h at 30 C, whereas a regrowth of the pathogen was observed after 7 d at 8 C and 8 h at 30 C.