Study: How Often are Retail Deli Machines Cleaned?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published a study that delves into how often deli slicers are cleaned at the retail level. Deli foods are most commonly associated with Listeria monocytogenes contamination.
The study--conducted by the CDC’s Environmental Health Specialists Network--looked at how often retail deli slicers were disassembled, cleaned and sanitized at 50 delis from January through September of 2012. Their observations were based upon the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Food Code-specified minimum frequency of every 4 hours. Also, deli staff members at 298 randomly selected delis were interviewed regarding their deli cleaning methods.
Findings:
For this particular study, data was only collected from English-speaking deli staff members and managers.