Abstract: The exposure of Listeria monocytogenes in raw pork under three different simplified transportation modes was quantitatively assessed according to the initial contamination levels and environmental settings. The prevalence of L. monocytogenes after non-cold chain, partial cold chain and whole cold chain transportation was 42.12%, 12.07% and 6.50%, respectively, and the probability of exceeding the risk threshold was 21.05%, 1.61% and 0%, respectively. The initial contamination was found to be crucial to the final contamination with correlation coefficient over 0.70 for all chains. Hence, chilled pork was advantageous over fresh pork in avoiding foodborne diseases, especially for that transported in the whole cold chain. Microbial source control and environmental settings were vital for the raw pork supply chains.

Key words: cold chain, raw pork, foodborne pathogen, exposure assessment