USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced the availability of its "Best Practices Guidance for Controlling Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in Retail Delicatessens," which outlines specific actions retailers can take in the delicatessen area to decrease the potential for Lm growth or cross-contamination.
The guidance provides recommendations and encourages retailers to evaluate the effectiveness of their retail practices and intervention strategies to reduce the risk of listeriosis from ready-to-eat meat and poultry products. FSIS changed the guidance in response to public comments, including recommending disassembling food processing equipment during cleaning and sanitizing, advising retailers to scrub surfaces during cleaning to prevent biofilm formation and suggesting that retailers rotate sanitizers to help prevent Lm from establishing niches in the environment and forming biofilms.
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