Assessment of the tolerance of Listeria innocua isolates recovered from meat products and food-processing environments in Poland to benzalkonium chloride

[ENG:]14 files containing experimental data were deposited in the database. These include:a file with data on the isolates, their origin, tolerance profiles, and the presence of resistance genes (Data_on_isolates_tolerance_profiles.csv);three files containing images of microbiological cultures showing growth inhibition of isolates on BHI medium for three technical replicates (Images_of_growth_inhibition_of_isolates_BHI_1st_technical_replicate.zip, Images_of_growth_inhibition_of_isolates_BHI_2nd_technical_replicate.zip, Images_of_growth_inhibition_of_isolates_BHI_3rd_technical_replicate.zip);and three files containing images of microbiological cultures showing growth inhibition of isolates on M-H medium supplemented with 1.2% sheep blood for three technical replicates (Images_of_growth_inhibition_of_isolates_M-H_+_1.2%_sheep_blood_1st_technical_replicate.zip, Images_of_growth_inhibition_of_isolates_M-H_+_1.2%_sheep_blood_2nd_technical_replicate.zip, Images_of_growth_inhibition_of_isolates_M-H_+_1.2%_sheep_blood_3rd_technical_replicate.zip).In addition, the dataset includes four sets of files presenting the results of PCR agarose gel electrophoresis for individual resistance genes: Electrophoresis_results_for_the_qacE_gene.zip, Electrophoresis_results_for_qacF_gene.zip, Electrophoresis_results_for_the_qacG_gene.zip, Electrophoresis_results_for_the_qacH_gene.zip, Electrophoresis_results_for_the_qacJ_gene.zip, Electrophoresis_results_for_the_brcABC_gene.zip i Electrophoresis_results_for_the_ermC_gene.zip.The files were saved in .csv, .jpg, and .png formats and were prepared using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. The data present the results of studies on the analysis of tolerance to benzalkonium chloride, a disinfectant widely used in the food industry, in 51 Listeria innocua bacterial isolates originating from raw and processed meat products as well as from meat-processing plant environments. Tolerance was determined using the agar diffusion method on two media: Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) agar and Mueller–Hinton (M-H) agar supplemented with 1.2% sheep blood, at BC concentrations of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 µg/mL, which enabled the determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). In addition, the presence of seven selected resistance genes to quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), including benzalkonium chloride (qacE, qacF, qacG, qacH, qacJ, brcABC, and ermC), was analyzed using the PCR technique.