One of the most interesting things about Listeria is that it can survive with almost nothing to eat.
“One of the presumptions is that they’re living on some of the breakdown products of the cells in the population that die. That’s supported by the results that the cells sitting in the original waste material survive better than do those which have their buffer changed every four days.”
A study done on Listeria found that even after 28 days, there was quite a large amount of cells still living because they used the dead cell’s waste. Additionally, the cells go into a stage of dormancy, allowing them be in a state without growth or development. Furthermore, being dormant allows the cell to reduce its metabolizing, minimizing its energy usage.
References:
How does Listeria monocytogenes survive with nothing to live on?. (n.d.). THE MEDICAL NEWS | from News-Medical.Net – Latest Medical News and Research from Around the World. Retrieved April 18, 2013, from http://www.news-medical.net/news/2007/08/29/29219.aspx
Listeria 