Retail Delis

Key takeaways from five scientific articles

Federal guidelines recommend several food safety practices for retail delis, but not all delis follow them.

Retail delis can address gaps in food safety practices by:

• Encouraging or requiring kitchen managers to be certified in food safety
• Providing food safety training to workers
• Monitoring and recording refrigerator temperatures
• Having written slicer cleaning policies

Food safety programs can promote these food safety practices, especially among independent delis.

Why this is important

Listeria monocytogenes causes the third highest number of foodborne illness deaths in the United States each year. L. monocytogenes contamination of sliced deli meats is an important cause of illness and outbreaks.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service recommend these food safety practices for controlling growth and contamination of bacteria like L. monocytogenes:

• Storing deli meats in refrigerators at 41°F or colder. Storing food at this temperature helps reduce bacteria growth.
• Using sanitizer solution at proper concentrations for cleaning surfaces that contact food. Cleaning equipment and using sanitizer at proper concentrations helps reduce bacteria.
• Using undamaged slicers. Damaged slicers are harder to clean.
• Cleaning and inspecting in-use food slicers every 4 hours. Cleaning at this frequency, and inspecting for damage and debris, can reduce contamination of food sliced on the slicers.
• Keeping raw meat away from ready-to-eat food to prevent potentially contaminated raw meat from contaminating ready-to-eat food.

What we learned

Our studies found that many retail delis aren't following recommended practices.

• 1 in 6 delis had a refrigerator that was too warm.
• 1 in 4 delis had sanitizer solutions at improper concentrations for cleaning surfaces that come into contact with food.
• 3 in 5 delis had slicers that were damaged.
• About half of delis did not fully clean their slicers every 4 hours.
• Most delis inspect their slicers, but only 1 in 4 reported inspecting their slicers for damage every 4 hours.

Most delis had proper practices for storing and handling raw meat, but some did not.

• 1 in 4 delis did not store raw meat in separate containers, bins, or trays away from ready-to-eat food.
• 1 in 10 delis with a cold storage unit stored raw meat above ready-to-eat food.
• 1 in 10 delis had potential cross-contamination of raw meat and ready-to-eat foods during preparation (for example, same knife used on raw meat and ready-to-eat foods without cleaning in between).

Retail delis were more likely to engage in these recommended food safety practices if they:

• Were chain delis
• Required kitchen managers to be certified in food safety
• Provided food safety training to workers
• Monitored and recorded refrigerator temperatures
• Had written slicer cleaning policies

More information

Journal articles this plain language summary is based on: proper refrigerator temperatures, cross contamination, sanitizing solution concentrations, slicer cleaning frequency, and slicer inspection practices

More practice summaries and investigation summaries in plain language

FDA Food Code

USDA's guidance for controlling Listeria monocytogenes in retail delicatessens