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A Comparison
of Methods for Assessing the Cleanliness of Home Refrigerators
Sandria
Godwin, Furchi Chen, and Richard Coppings
Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Research
Seminar Series
Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN
September 7, 2005
Consumers
are the final line of defense against foodborne illness. Consumers’ food
handling and storage practices greatly impact the degree of microbial
contamination in the home refrigerator and the risk of foodborne illness
for family members. Trained observers used a cleanliness scale to assign
scores for the apparent condition of four areas of over 100 in-home
refrigerators, and swabs were collected from the surface of those areas.
Additionally, each consumer completed a home refrigeration practices
survey. Aerobic plate counts (APC), psychotrophic plate counts (PPC) and
a microbial ATP bioluminescense procedure (mATP) were carried out on
swabs to assess microbial contamination. The highest correlation (r =
0.895) was found between mATP and the average of APC and PPC. Microbial
ATP was not highly correlated with consumer’s self-reported refrigerator
cleaning practices. Cleanliness scores for several refrigerator
compartments were correlated with mATP found on the bottom shelf.
Microbial ATP in the vegetable bin was correlated with the cleanliness
score for that compartment. Fewer vegetable bins contained nondetectable
mATP (14%) while over 22% had higher levels of microbial contamination.
Microbial ATP appears to be a suitable rapid method for assessing the
degree of microbial contamination of home refrigerators. Consumers
should regularly engage in adequate cleaning of their refrigerators
regardless of visible soiling.
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