Assessment of hygienic quality of surfaces in retail food service establishments based on microbial counts and real-time detection of ATP.

Clean food contact surfaces are important in reducing the likelihood of foodborne disease transmission. The goal of this study was to assess and compare baseline cleanliness of food contact and environmental surfaces in retail food establishments by using ATP bioluminescence (ATP-B), visual assessment, and surface contact plates. Four hundred eighty-nine surface samples were collected from three food service establishments at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Minneapolis) and analyzed for either ATP (252) or total aerobic plate count bacteria (237). ATP levels ranged from a minimum of 4 relative light units (RLU; 0.60 log RLU) on a clean slicer to a maximum of 506,618 RLU (5.77 log RLU) on a dirty cutting board. The overall mean was 1,950 RLU (3.29 log RLU). Cutting boards had the highest ATP levels (mean, 5,495 RLU or 3.74 log RLU; median, 6,761 RLU or 3.83 log RLU). Of the 128 samples judged visually clean at the time of sampling, 70.3 % failed ATP-B testing. Sixty-one (26 % ) of the 237 total aerobic plate count samples yielded counts of over 125 CFU/50 cm(2) (failed), and of those that failed, 40 % were assessed as visually clean before sampling. The highest average counts in CFU/50 cm(2) were found on slicers (104) and cutting boards (87). The results of this study suggest that the current practice of evaluating food contact surface cleanliness by sight and touch to meet regulatory requirements might be inadequate. ATP-B testing may be an efficient tool to facilitate creation, implementation, and validation of more effective food contact surface cleaning in food establishments.

[1]  D. Worsfold,et al.  An assessment of food hygiene and safety at farmers' markets , 2004, International journal of environmental health research.

[2]  C. Griffith,et al.  Use of audit tools to evaluate the efficacy of cleaning systems in hospitals. , 2003, American journal of infection control.

[3]  D. Cliver,et al.  Cutting boards in Salmonella cross-contamination. , 2006, Journal of AOAC International.

[4]  E. A. Zottola,et al.  Microbial biofilms in the food processing industry--should they be a concern? , 1994, International journal of food microbiology.

[5]  C. Griffith,et al.  A comparison of traditional and recently developed methods for monitoring surface hygiene within the food industry: An industry trial , 2002, International journal of environmental health research.

[6]  S. Dancer,et al.  How do we assess hospital cleaning? A proposal for microbiological standards for surface hygiene in hospitals , 2003, Journal of Hospital Infection.

[7]  C. A. Davidson,et al.  Evaluation of two methods for monitoring surface cleanliness-ATP bioluminescence and traditional hygiene swabbing. , 1999, Luminescence : the journal of biological and chemical luminescence.

[8]  C. Griffith,et al.  A modified ATP benchmark for evaluating the cleaning of some hospital environmental surfaces. , 2008, The Journal of hospital infection.

[9]  J Debevere,et al.  Persistence of Campylobacter jejuni on surfaces in a processing environment and on cutting boards , 2005, Letters in applied microbiology.

[10]  Julie A. Albrecht,et al.  Comparison of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence and aerobic plate counts (APC) on plastic cutting boards , 2007 .

[11]  J. Boyce,et al.  Monitoring the Effectiveness of Hospital Cleaning Practices by Use of an Adenosine Triphosphate Bioluminescence Assay , 2009, Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

[12]  D A Mossel,et al.  Assessment of cleaning and disinfection in the food industry with the rapid ATP-bioluminescence technique combined with the tissue fluid contamination test and a conventional microbiological method. , 1993, International journal of food microbiology.

[13]  M. Haslum,et al.  An in-use study of Microban ® cleaning cloths , 2000 .

[14]  A. Sjöberg,et al.  Microbial testing methods for detection of residual cleaning agents and disinfectants-prevention of ATP bioluminescence measurement errors in the food industry. , 2000, Journal of food protection.

[15]  C. Griffith,et al.  Monitoring the effectiveness of cleaning in four British hospitals. , 2007, American journal of infection control.

[16]  Dominique Boursillon,et al.  The safety of wooden cutting boards: Remobilization of bacteria from pine, beech, and polyethylene , 2007 .

[17]  C J Griffith,et al.  An evaluation of hospital cleaning regimes and standards. , 2000, The Journal of hospital infection.

[18]  L. A. Smith,et al.  The detection of food soils and cells on stainless steel using industrial methods: UV illumination and ATP bioluminescence. , 2008, International journal of food microbiology.

[19]  G. Salvat,et al.  Campylobacter transfer from naturally contaminated chicken thighs to cutting boards is inversely related to initial load. , 2009, Journal of food protection.

[20]  D Worsfold,et al.  An assessment of cleaning regimes and standards in butchers' shops , 2001, International journal of environmental health research.

[21]  H. Ayçiçek,et al.  Comparison of results of ATP bioluminescence and traditional hygiene swabbing methods for the determination of surface cleanliness at a hospital kitchen. , 2006, International journal of hygiene and environmental health.