Prevalence and transmission characteristics of species from ruminants in farm and slaughtering environments in China.

is an important foodborne pathogen, and is ubiquitously distributed in the natural environment. Cattle and sheep, as natural hosts, can transmit to related meat and dairy products. In this study, the prevalence, distribution, and transmission characteristics of were analysed by investigating 5214 samples of cattle and sheep in farm and slaughtering environments in China. A low contamination incidence of (0.5%, 20/4430) was observed in farm environment, but there was a high contamination incidence in slaughtering environment (9.4%, 74/784). The incidence of in cattle and sheep farm and slaughtering environments is more common and significantly higher (9.7%, 508/5214) than that of (1.8%, 94/5214). The distinct molecular and genetic characteristics of by PFGE and MLST indicated that and were gradually transmitted from the farm and slaughtering environments to end products, such as beef and mutton along the slaughtering chain. The ST7, ST9, ST91, and ST155 found in our study were associated with the human listeriosis cases in China. In addition, the findings of virulence markers (, , LIPI-3 LIPI-4, and ECIII) concerned with the pathogenesis of human listeriosis and antibiotics resistance of in this study implies a potential public health risk. This study fills the gap in the epidemiology of beef cattle and sheep that carry in farm and slaughtering environments in major cattle and sheep producing areas in China.