Cleaning After a Food Recall

What do I do if Food in my Fridge is Recalled?

This article is answering what we should do if we have food in our fridges that were formally recalled due to safety concerns. I have taken the basic info and structure from a July 2019 CDC poster, that can be freely distributed and is not copyrighted, and have modified the information to meet more of what I would do, without changing the basic suggestions they are making. My additional comments are italicized.

This post is not about freezers, just fridges.

Cleaning Fridge due to Recall

If you have a recalled food item in your refrigerator, it’s important not just to throw out the food, but also to clean the fridge. Germs in the recalled food could have spread to many places in your fridge, including the drawers or shelves.

• By the way, this is why you should always consider keeping your food items in separate containers. By taking this step you are isolating foods so you may not have to toss out all the food the recalled item has touched.

How to Clean Fridge After a Food Recall

Items needed to clean the fridge:

Throw out recalled food

Throw out the recalled food, and any other foods stored with it or touching it. Put the recalled item in a sealed bag, in the garbage. If the recalled food was stored in a reusable container, wash it with hot, soapy water before reusing.

• This means if it is a veggie in one drawer, toss everything in that drawer.
• If in a stored container my preference is to wash it by hand to clean it as well as I can, and then put in the dishwasher where hotter water will clean it.
• Once dumped, take the garbage out of the house and place into the garbage can so no further contamination can occur.

Empty your Refrigerator

Empty the rest of the items in your refrigerator and put them on a counter or table while you clean. Take out shelving, drawers, and any other removable parts. Don’t leave unrefrigerated food out for more than two hours.

• In general, we do this type of washing of the fridge at least twice a year. The Washington Post suggests doing it quarterly.
• When doing this type of cleaning, take the time to review the expiration dates of all the condiments and if tossing, clean the jars of expired food and recycle those containers.
• If you can pull the fridge away from the wall, consider vacuuming up the dust and dirt that has collected; this will help your appliance live longer.

Wash Removable Parts

Wash shelving, drawers, and any other removable parts by hand with hot, soapy water. Dry with a clean towel. Don’t run cold glass shelves or drawers under hot water – the glass could crack. Let them come to room temperature first.

• We wash and then let the item air dry after we dry them with a towel to assure it is not wet when we put back in.
• The used kitchen towels are immediately put in the dirty-clothes pile for washing.

Clean and Sanitize Inside the Refrigerator

Wipe the inside of the empty refrigerator with hot, soapy water, then wipe with clean water to rinse off soap. Dry with a clean towel. Don’t forget to wipe inside the doors and any drawers that cannot be removed. Use a solution of 1 tablespoon of liquid bleach in 1 gallon of water to sanitize your refrigerator. Do this after cleaning it with hot, soapy water.

• If you do not want to use bleach try a natural cleaner.
• Use a 2:1 hot water to distilled white vinegar. Place in a glass spray bottle and add a bit of citrus (lemon, lime, orange, etc) essential oil.
• Spray the fridge, let sit for a couple of minutes, and wipe with a damp cloth. This will clean your fridge and leave it smelling nice too.
• After use, any washing or drying cloth is rinsed well and placed in the dirty-clothes pile for washing.

Return Shelves, Drawers, and Food

Put the shelves, drawers, and other removable parts back in the refrigerator, along with the other items you took out. Wipe food and drink containers with hot, soapy water before returning to the clean refrigerator.

• Make sure shelves and drawers are completely dry before inserting into the fridge.
• Wash the door container shelves too.
• This is the time to toss any “iffy” food items, or things you thought you would use but have not.
• Toss and recycle old condiments.
• Good time to check your cheese and other dairy products for mold.

Last Items to Clean

Wash the inside of the door rubbers as they often get a bit moldy from the moisture and air temps when we open and close the doors. Then clean the exterior of the fridge from top to handles to sides and the bottom.

If your fridge has accessible coils, unplug the fridge, and using a brush for the purpose, lightly brush off dust and the various bunnies that like those spaces and then vacuum. Finally, vacuum and clean the floor, and plug the fridge back in, before you put the fridge back to where it belongs.

If you have a water filter this is a good time to check and make sure it does not need replacing. I have a water filter on my fridge and the timer is set to replace every 6 months but not every fridge out there is modern enough to have an indicator. (Ours died this year so we had to get a new one, my goodness fridges are getting very fancy these days.)

To have a nice smelling fridge you have some choices. Add a bag of activated charcoal (aquarium stores have them), good for ~3 months. Open a new box of baking soda, again for 3 months then replace. Add a container of ~1C freshly ground coffee, placed in a dish at the back of the fridge. There are probably more options but these three I have used over time. Generally I use the baking soda.

And don’t forget! Wash your hands with water and soap once you’ve finished cleaning. Use hot, soapy water to wipe kitchen counters that held food, drinks, refrigerator parts and any cleaning materials. Wash any towels you used to dry the refrigerator before using them again.

— Patty

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NEWS: July 2019 Green Giant, Trader Joe’s and Signature Farms veggies recalled for potential Listeria risk. Butternut squash, cauliflower, zucchini and select veggie bowls are included in the voluntary recall and were sold under the Green Giant Fresh, Trader Joe’s and the Signature Farms brands, according to a recall notice posted on the Food and Drug Administration website.

Recipes: A winter roasted veggies (using the foods in the photo above). In the German section I added Kohlrouladen (stuffed cabbage) and Gurkensalat (German cucumber salad done two ways). And a timely Spinach Strawberry Feta salad.

Articles: I wrote up one on carrots and one on cauliflower. Let me know what you think.

TIP: I like cheese and we always have some in our fridge. But the question is how to best store it without having to mail order special cheese storage paper? Cheese needs to breathe and yet also stay moist, if it gets too moist it grows mold, too much air and it dries out. The cheese you get from an actual cheesemonger should be wrapped in the appropriate wrapping so you can just keep using that. But if buying from grocery stores the solution I find works the best is to remove the cheese from its plastic wrapping and instead wrap it in parchment paper to let it breathe. Then cover it in foil to prevent drying out. Keep in the deli-drawer of your fridge and it should last. Remember mold on hard cheeses can generally be cut off, mold on softer cheeses cannot so toss those.