A guide to reducing the risk of a listeria outbreak occurring at your food factory, covering everything from removing condensation to finding the right tests.

Listeria monocytogenes (listeria) is a foodborne bacterium. It causes an illness called Listeriosis that is particularly dangerous to infants, pregnant women, and people with a weakened immune system.

The risk of a listeria outbreak is especially high at food factories that manage the production of items such as smoked and cured fish, pre-prepared sandwiches and salads, soft mould-ripened cheeses, pre-cut fruits, and pâté. However, listeria is a threat that needs to be taken seriously by all.

To provide support in this area, we have put together a guide to reducing the risks of a listeria outbreak at your food production site.

1. Identify hard-to-reach areas

Listeria is often found in hard-to-reach areas where it can easily evade detection. Common examples include cracks and crevices in equipment, behind and between machinery, and where the walls of your factory meet the floor.

Once you have identified these areas, you will need to draw attention to them through Cleaning Instruction Cards (CICs), ongoing training sessions, and even magnetically mounted signs that can be easily moved from place to place. You will also need to equip your operatives with the right Detail Cleaning Equipment to tackle these awkward areas and tight spaces.

Your HACCP Team, Hygiene Team, and Internal Auditors should be heavily involved in this process, ensuring it is a site-wide effort to effectively clean and monitor hard-to-reach areas. Involving your Production Team is also essential, as they will be working with the equipment on a daily basis, so will be best placed to spot any new harbourage points caused by damage and degradation.

This process will be made easier if the dangers of hard-to-reach areas are considered by a multi-disciplinary team whenever new equipment or machinery is introduced to site (e.g. conveyor belts, mixers, choppers). Clause 4.6.1, Issue 9 of the BRCGS Global Food Safety Standard reflects this sentiment and states that “depending on its intended use, new equipment to site may require authorisation from a multi-disciplinary team.” After all, finding the right equipment is not just about driving efficiency and hitting production targets, the machinery also needs to be hygienically designed – easy to clean and free from trap points and harbourages.

View our complete range of Detail Cleaning Equipment

2. Prioritise the removal of condensation

Listeria thrives in high-moisture environments. This makes the removal of condensation essential. Otherwise, it is possible that condensation, contaminated with listeria, could drip down onto your equipment or even directly onto your products and ingredients.

On a larger scale, the intelligent design of your factory and an effective extraction system will make all the difference to condensation levels at your site. However, on a day-to-day basis, the management of condensation will be largely dependent on your cleaning equipment and the proactiveness of your operatives.

Condensation squeegees are a popular solution, used by hygiene teams to collect condensation from walls and ceilings, with the liquid safely running through the inside of the handle to a connected bottle or hose. At Klipspringer, we supply a condensation squeegee that connects to a wide range of handle lengths, making it the ideal choice for applications of all heights.

We have also noticed a growing trend in sites selecting shadow boards and signage with magnetic mounting. This mounting method is typically preferred by hygiene teams, as it allows them to remove boards and signs before every clean. By adopting this approach, you can eliminate the risk of a listeria hotspot forming behind the items hanging on your factory walls.

Take a look at our hygiene condensation squeegee
Learn more about our magnetic mounting option

3. Evaluate your drain cleaning equipment

As mentioned above, listeria thrives in high-moisture environments, so food factory drains are a likely harbourage point.

This is one of the reasons it has become common practice to ensure your drain cleaning and floor cleaning equipment are different colours. They should also be stored separately to reduce the risk of cross-contamination or operator error.

Failing to take these precautions could leave your site vulnerable to a listeria outbreak. Say listeria is present in your drains, mixing up your cleaning equipment could result in it being spread across your factory floors. Listeria travels quickly and easily, so once it has been brought outside your drains, it could even reach your hand-held cleaning equipment, then the utensils and machinery coming into direct contact with your product.

If the drains at your site are a listeria hotspot and you are concerned that your current precautions won’t be enough to limit the risks or reassure your auditors, the first step is to make sure your drain cleaning equipment is clearly distinguishable from your other equipment.

To support our customers in this area, we supply hygiene and production equipment in up to 11 distinct colours. If you are unhappy with your site’s current approach to colour-coding, we have also produced a guide that will help you to simplify this process. Click here to access the article.

Finally, you should consider dedicated shadow boards for your drain cleaning equipment. Instead of hanging your tools on hooks and rails, hoping your team will be able to identify them, shadow boards ensure your storage is highly visual. You can also introduce a clear header and instructions for use, making it easier for new and temporary workers to find the right tools for the job.

Explore our range of colour-coded hygiene equipment
Learn more about our shadow board storage solutions

4. Establish an effective testing strategy

When it comes to measuring the effectiveness of the listeria control measures at your factory, you will need to conduct listeria tests in areas where the presence of this bacteria would be critical.

Depending on the risk levels at your site and the expectations outlined by your auditing body, you may decide to start with areas where you have previously found listeria. You may also decide to carry out random spot-checks or to focus on hard-to-reach areas that often go overlooked.

At Klipspringer, we have launched a simple, swab-based test for the detection of Listeria spp.. Developed with ease-of-use in mind, this test displays its results through a distinct colour change. Unlike many other listeria tests, this style also ensures your collected sample remains viable for further testing, so in the event of a positive result, you can send the same sample away to an external laboratory – saving time and reducing costs.

To view the complete list of organisms tested against our listeria swab test, click here and scroll to the second page of the document.

Discover our environmental swab test for listeria

5. Ongoing Training: Why? What? Where?

It’s important to reinforce all of your positive actions with ongoing training – nurturing a culture of food safety at your site.

One of the best ways to do this is to highlight the ‘Why?’ behind listeria control. To be fully engaged in the process, your team needs to understand that the spread of listeria puts lives in danger and an outbreak could place the future of your site in jeopardy.

Your operatives also need to realise that listeria is able to evade a lot of the traditional food safety measures. For example, it can survive in cold environments, multiplying at temperatures as low as 0°C. Unfortunately, this means products in cold storage are also at risk.

What’s more, listeria can form biofilms (a community of bacteria with a protective matrix). This makes it extremely hard to remove through traditional cleaning and sanitisation methods. By sharing this information with your team, then reinforcing it with verbal and visual reminders, you can prevent your operatives from treating listeria as they would any other bacterial threat. Instead, they can focus on ‘What?’ needs to be done to limit the risks.

Finally, you need to identify the listeria hotspots at your site. This should help your team to understand ‘Where?’ listeria is most commonly found, as well as the conditions it thrives in. A popular approach is to place customised ‘Listeria Hotspot’ signs in key areas around your site. If you opt for magnetic mounting, your team will be able to easily move these signs to reflect the changing landscape and risk levels of your operation.

When establishing the listeria hotspots at your factory, you will need to consult with your HACCP Team and Internal Auditors, along with the hygiene operatives in charge of carrying out your listeria testing program.

Find out more about customised signs and visual management

That brings us to the end of our guide to reducing the risk of a listeria outbreak at your food factory. We hope it has given you a better idea of how to drive standards in this area.

If you have any questions relating to listeria control at your site or the solutions mentioned throughout this article, our in-house team of experts are here to help.

You can contact them directly on 01473461800 or sales@klipspringer.com. Alternatively, you can fill out the contact form below and one of our friendly team members will be in touch.

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