Best Practices Guidance for Controlling Listeria monocytogenes in Retail Delicatessens

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing the availability of its updated ``Best Practices Guidance for Controlling Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in Retail Delicatessens'' and responding to comments received on the guidance that FSIS posted on its Web site and announced in April 2014 in the Federal Register. The best- practices guidance discusses steps that retailers can take to prevent certain ready-to-eat (RTE) foods that are prepared or sliced in retail delicatessens (delis) and consumed in the home, such as deli meats and deli salads, from becoming contaminated with Lm and thus a source of listeriosis. FSIS encourages retailers to review the guidance and evaluate the effectiveness of their retail practices and intervention strategies in reducing the risk of listeriosis to consumers from RTE meat and poultry deli products.