Control and Prevention of Salmonella at Household and Retail

Salmonella Prevention and Control

Regarding your facilities, you need specific prevention or control measures.

The most important measures at the household and retail level are appropriate hygienic practices, thorough cooking and refrigeration. These measures are important to avoid or limit the risk of most foodborne diseases.

How to prevent and control Salmonella at a household level?

There are four steps to help prevent Salmonella infection:

Clean

• Wash hands thoroughly with soap and clean, running water for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food, particularly after touching raw or undercooked eggs, meat, poultry, seafood, or their juices.
• Clean utensils, cutting boards, dishes, and countertops with hot, soapy water, especially after they have come into contact with raw or undercooked eggs, meat, poultry, seafood, or their juices.
• Wash fruits and vegetables before eating them
• Do not wash raw poultry, meat, or seafood before cooking. Washing them can spread germs to other foods, utensils, and surfaces.

Separate

• Separate raw foods: Keep raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs separate from other foods in your grocery cart and refrigerator. This helps prevent the spread of bacteria. Store eggs in their original carton and place them in the main part of the refrigerator, not in the door.
• Prevent contact with ready-to-eat foods: Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood separate from ready-to-eat foods like salads and deli meat. This avoids any potential transfer of bacteria from raw to cooked foods.
• Use separate cutting boards and plates: Different cutting boards and plates for preparing produce and raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs. This prevents cross-contamination between raw and ready-to-eat foods.
• Avoid reusing contaminated plates: Never place cooked food on a plate that previously held raw or undercooked eggs, meat, poultry, seafood, or their juices. This prevents any residual bacteria from contaminating the cooked food.

Cook

• Beef, pork, ham, veal, and lamb: Cook to an internal temperature of 145°F (63°C). 
• Fish with fins: Cook until the internal temperature should reach 145°F (63°C).
• Ground beef, ground pork, ground veal, and ground lamb: Cook to a minimum internal temperature of 160°F (71°C).
• Egg dishes without meat or poultry: Ensure an internal temperature of 160°F (71°C).
• Egg dishes with meat or poultry: Cook to an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C).
• Poultry: Cook until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C).
• Reheat leftovers and casseroles to an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C) to ensure proper food safety.
• Use pasteurized milk and milk products.
• Using a food thermometer and following these temperature guidelines ensures that foods are cooked to a safe internal temperature, reducing the risk of Salmonella contamination.

Chill

• Keep your refrigerator at 40°F (4°C) or colder as this temperature helps slow down bacterial growth, including Salmonella.
• Keep hot foods above 140°F (60 ºC) and cold foods below 40°F (4°C)
• Cool the cooked food rapidly.
• Perishable foods, such as meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, dairy products, cut fruit, certain vegetables, cooked rice, and leftovers, should not be left out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours. If the ambient temperature is above 90°F (32°C), the safe time limit is reduced to 1 hour.

How to Control Salmonella in Retail?

Practices to prevent cross-contamination are essential at retail stores and in consumer kitchens. Similar to retail stores and consumer kitchens, restaurants should adhere to proper food safety practices to prevent Salmonella contamination. This includes all the measures mentioned in Clean-Separate-Chill-Cook plus:

• Train staff in hygiene practices, 
• Following proper storage
• Following proper cooking procedures (keep hot foods above 60 ºC and cold foods below 4°C, reheat cooked food to 74 ºC, cook food thoroughly and cool rapidly )
• Implementing effective cleaning and sanitation protocols,
• Avoid direct handling of food by infected employees,
• Acidify foods at pH 3.8 or below

Below you can find different prevention and control measures depending on the facilities you are.

How to prevent and control Salmonella in feed and feed ingredients?

How to control Salmonella in poultry?

References

Alphons J.A.M. van Asten , Jaap E. van Dijk, Distribution of “classic” virulence factors among Salmonella spp., FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology, Volume 44, Issue 3, June 2005, Pages 251–259, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.femsim.2005.02.002 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases (DFWED)

Ontario Ministry of Health, Ministry of Long-Term Care, Salmonellosis

Popa GL, Papa MI. Salmonella spp. infection – a continuous threat worldwide. Germs. 2021 Mar 15;11(1):88-96. doi: 10.18683/germs.2021.1244. PMID: 33898345; PMCID: PMC8057844.

Giannella RA. Salmonella. In: Baron S, editor. Medical Microbiology. 4th edition. Galveston (TX): University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; 1996. Chapter 21. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8435/