Listeria in the freezer?

Hello All,

I received some Environmental Swabs results back from the lab, and Listeria hit positive on the Freezer floor (Zone 4) of a bakery Plant. I confess I was not expecting this. Have anyone came across this situation before? Is it common?

I appreciate any comment or suggestions?

Thanks   

Yes. Listeria has the ability to live and grow (.5 - 4 logs)  in refrigerated temperature. I would suggest looking at sanitation practices and traffic flow design .

You will want to let your sanitation company know and you will probably want to test that area each week until you can get 4 consecutive good results.

Setanta

In general, bacteria is not killed in a freezer.  The low temperature only halts the growth of the bacteria.  It will start to multiply when your product warms up.