Considering initial contamination level D, the pathogenwas recovered by plate counts only after 55 days; before this time, it was less than the plate count detection limit although it was present in 25 g of the samples. In cheese samples with a 1 and 2 log cfu g1 level of initial contamination (E and F), L. monocytogenes never grew beyond the detection limit for the count, and after 55 days, it could no longer be detected by the enrichment method either (Table 2).