Listeria innocua is one of the six species belonging to the genus Listeria. It is widely found in the environment (such as soil) and food sources. It can survive in extreme pH and temperature, and high salt concentration (5). In terms of appearance, it is a rod-shaped Gram-positive bacterium. It is a non-spore forming bacterium. It may live individually or organize into chains with other Listeria innocua bacteria. It is a mesophile, operating at an optimal temperature range of 30-37 degrees Celsius. Listeria innocua very much resembles its other family members, the pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes (5). Listeria innocua was isolated from meat by a technique called surface adhesion immunofluorescence (3). Samples of meat were inoculated with L. innocua and incubated at 30 degrees Celsius for 14-18 hours in a broth. The cells were then isolated from the meat by surface adhesion onto a polycarbonate membrane attached to a microscope glass slide. Then immunofluorescent microscopy was employed to visualize the bacteria (3). Listeria innocua is important because it is very similar to the food-borne pathogen L. monocytogenes but non-pathogenic in character. Thus its genome was sequenced in order to compare it to the genome of L. monocytogenes to learn what makes the latter pathogenic.