New Uses for Existing Technologies to Reduce the Risk of Persistent Pathogens on Surfaces in Retail Foodservice
The need remains for a continuous means of sanitizing and disinfecting high-touch and other environmental surfaces where persistent microbial pathogens can be found
Traditional environmental surface sanitation/disinfection in retail foodservice and sales establishments has been focused on food contact surfaces. However, persistent microbial pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella can survive on non-food contact environmental surfaces in retail foodservice facilities, leading to sporadic cases of foodborne illness through cross-contamination of foods. Likewise, viral pathogens like norovirus and Hepatitis A can survive and be transmitted from non-food contact environmental surfaces to foods, leading to large foodborne disease outbreaks. New uses for existing technologies are being deployed in retail foodservice and sales businesses to prevent these persistent pathogens where continuous sanitation/disinfection is needed.
A large number of microbial pathogens (including bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungal) can persist in the environments found within a food processing facility. Some of these pathogens can not only survive harsh conditions in the environment (wide ranges of pH, temperature, and water activity) and resist chemical sanitation, but some (e.g., Listeria monocytogenes) can survive and grow under such conditions.1 This hardiness increases their probability of persisting in the environment of a manufacturing facility, therefore increasing the risk of causing foodborne illness to consumers if these pathogens then contaminate food products, especially ready-to-eat (RTE) foods during food processing.